Project overview

The project “Chemical systems biology” searches for new drugs and new drug targets to better understand fundamental biological processes and treat (rare) diseases. The teams that make up this NCCR project come from widely varying backgrounds and thus bring several exciting, complementary technologies to bear in the effort to understand and treat disease.

These technologies include:

• small molecule libraries that cover uncharted expanses of chemical space and cutting edge displaying technologies to query these collections
• caged metabolites and inhibitors to acutely observe metabolic reactions and signaling decisions over space and time
• novel chemical warheads to dissect changes in chemical reactivities of biomolecules in cellulo
• unique bioassays to screen for genetic or pharmacological modifiers of pathways of interest
• mass spectrometry support to characterize the affects that these manipulations have on the lipidome, metabolome and (phospho-)proteome of treated cells
• medicinal chemistry to convert screen hits to lead compounds

Although this collective skillset can be applied to a range of biological pathways, dissection of the roles played by protein-lipid interactions in health and disease is of particular interest.