Inicio Investigación e innovación Programas Científicos Programa de Oncología Molecular Grupo de Biología Química Traslacional
Grupo de Biología Química Traslacional Investigadores Científicos
Técnicos de Laboratorio
Laura Alarcos Aicha El Bakkali Carlos Labão-Almeida David Sánchez The Translational Chemical Biology Group bridges organic chemistry and biology to uncover fundamental biological mechanisms and inspire the next generation of targeted therapeutics.
In chemistry, chemoselectivity describes a reagent’s ability to react selectively with one chemical group while ignoring others. Organic chemists have long harnessed this property to design catalysts and streamline the synthesis of complex molecules. The Group applies this same principle within living systems. By leveraging expertise in organic chemistry, the team explores the intrinsic reactivity of functional groups in biological macromolecules—such as nucleic acids and proteins—to develop innovative molecular probes and therapeutic agents.
Our research uses chemistry principles to address questions of importance in the life sciences and molecular medicine. Recent examples of emerging areas in our Group include:
Development of small-molecule RNA degraders, which were readily adapted to create a bifunctional molecule approach for the degradation of specific secondary and tertiary RNA structures linked to pathologies such as COVID-19 or cancer. Development of de novo mini protein drug conjugates for targeted cancer therapy. Development of immunodiagnostic plasma amino acid residue biomarkers to detect cancer early and predict treatment response. Publicaciones recientes Brown L, Vidal AV, Dias AL, Rodrigues T, Sigurdardottir A, Journeaux T, O'Brien S, Murray TV, Ravn P, Papworth M, Bernardes GJL. (2024). Proximity-driven Site-specific Cyclization of Phage-displayed Peptides. Nat Commun 15, 7308. Publicación en otras instituciones.Unnikrishnan VB, Sabatino V, Amorim F, Estrada MF, Navo CD, Jimenez-Oses G, Fior R, Bernardes GJL. (2024). Gold(III)-Induced Amide Bond Cleavage In Vivo: A Dual Release Strategy via π-Acid Mediated Allyl Substitution. J Am Chem Soc 146, 23240-23251. Publicación en otras instituciones.Vasco AV, Taylor RJ, Méndez Y, Bernardes GJL. (2024). On-Demand Thio-Succinimide Hydrolysis for the Assembly of Stable Protein-Protein Conjugates J Am Chem Soc 146, 20709-20719. Publicación en otras instituciones.Guerreiro A, Compañón I, Lazaris FS, Labão-Almeida C, Oroz P, Ghirardello M, Marques MC, Corzana F, Bernardes GJL. (2024). Non-natural MUC1 Glycopeptide Homogeneous Cancer Vaccine with Enhanced Immunogenicity and Therapeutic Activity Angewandte Chemie (in press) . Publicación en otras instituciones.Dal Forno GM, Latocheski E, Beatriz Machado A, Becher J, Dunsmore L, St John AL, Oliveira BL, Navo CD, Jiménez-Osés G, Fior R, Domingos JB, Bernardes GJL. (2023). Expanding Transition Metal-Mediated Bioorthogonal Decaging to Include C-C Bond Cleavage Reactions J Am Chem Soc 145, 10790-10799. Publicación en otras instituciones.Mikutis S, Rebelo M, Yankova E, Gu M, Tang C, Coelho AR, Yang M, Hazemi ME, Pires de Miranda M, Eleftheriou M, Robertson M, Vassiliou GS, Adams DJ, Simas JP, Corzana F, Schneekloth JS Jr, Tzelepis K, Bernardes GJL. (2023). Proximity-Induced Nucleic Acid Degrader (PINAD) Approach to Targeted RNA Degradation Using Small Molecules ACS Cent Sci 9, 892-904. Publicación en otras instituciones.Tang C; Coelho AR; Rebelo M; Kiely-Collins H; Carvalho T; Bernardes GJL (2023). A selective SARS-CoV-2 host-directed antiviral targeting stress response to ROS ACS Cent Sci 9, 109-121. Publicación en otras instituciones.Dunsmore L, Navo CD, Becher J, de Montes EG, Guerreiro A, Hoyt E, Brown L, Zelenay V, Mikutis S, Cooper J, Barbieri I, Lawrinowitz S, Siouve E, Martin E, Ruivo PR, Rodrigues T, da Cruz FP, Werz O, Vassiliou G, Ravn P, Jiménez-Osés G, Bernardes GJL. (2022). Controlled masking and targeted release of redox-cycling ortho-quinones via a C-C bond-cleaving 1,6-elimination Nat Chem 14, 754-765. Publicación en otras instituciones.Istrate A, Geeson MB, Navo CD, Sousa BB, Marques MC, Taylor RJ, Journeaux T, Oehler SR, Mortensen MR, Deery MJ, Bond AD, Corzana F, Jiménez-Osés G, Bernardes GJL. (2022). Platform for orthogonal N-cysteine-specific protein modification enabled by cyclopropenone reagents J Am Chem Soc 144, 10396-10406. Publicación en otras instituciones.Taylor RJ, Aguilar Rangel M, Geeson MB, Sormanni P, Vendruscolo M, Bernardes GJL. (2022). π-Clamp-Mediated Homo- and Heterodimerization of Single-Domain Antibodies via Site-Specific Homobifunctional Conjugation J Am Chem Soc 144, 13026-13031. Publicación en otras instituciones.Hakala TA, Yates EV, Challa PK, Toprakcioglu Z, Nadendla K, Matak-Vinkovic D, Dobson CM, Martínez R, Corzana F, Knowles TPJ, Bernardes GJL. (2021). Accelerating Reaction Rates of Biomolecules by Using Shear Stress in Artificial Capillary Systems J Am Chem Soc 143, 16401-16410. Publicación en otras instituciones.Conde J, Pumroy RA, Baker C, Rodrigues T, Guerreiro A, Sousa BB, Marques MC, de Almeida BP, Lee S, Leites EP, Picard D, Samanta A, Vaz SH, Sieglitz F, Langini M, Remke M, Roque R, Weiss T, Weller M, Liu Y, Han S, Corzana F, Morais VA, Faria CC, Carvalho T, Filippakopoulos P, Snijder B, Barbosa-Morais NL, Moiseenkova-Bell VY, Bernardes GJL. (2021). Allosteric antagonist modulation of TRPV2 by Piperlongumine impairs glioblastoma progression. ACS Cent Sci 7, 868-881. Publicación en otras instituciones.
