Translational Chemical Biology

Thurs., May 29th, 2025 4:00 pm (China Standard Time) / 9:00 am (BST)

About our Virtual Chemistry Lecture on Translational Chemical Biology

Our research utilizes chemical principles to address important questions in the life sciences and molecular medicine. This lecture will cover recent examples of emerging areas in Translational Chemical Biology in our group:

• De novo computationally designed mini-protein drug conjugates for targeted cancer therapeutics.
• Small molecule RNA degraders, which, when in proximity, can irreversibly degrade RNA, akin to
  ribonucleases. Using small-molecule RNA degraders, we developed proximity-driven small-molecule RNA degraders (PINADs) to target and degrade specific disease-relevant RNAs.

Publications (Selected):

1. M. E. Hazemi, M. B. Geeson, F. M. Müller, S. Mikutis, A. J. Enright, G. J. L. Bernardes, “An Expanded View of RNA Modification with Carbohydrate-Based Metabolic Probes.” JACS Au, 2025
   (doi: 10.1021/jacsau.5c00249).
2. S. Mikutis, G. J. L. Bernardes, “Technologies for Targeted RNA Degradation and Induced RNA Decay.” Chem. Rev., 2024, 124, 13301.
3. J. Bonet-Aleta, T. Maehara, B. A. Craig, G. J. L. Bernardes, “Small Molecule RNA Degraders.” Angew. Chem., Int. Ed. 2024, 63, e202412925.

About our Speaker

Prof. Gonçalo J. L. Bernardes

Prof. Bernardes is a Professor of Chemical Biology at the University of Cambridge. He is also a Senior Group Leader at CNIO supported by an ATRAE grant.

After completing his D.Phil. degree in 2008 at the University of Oxford, UK, he then performed postdoctoral work at the Max-Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, the ETH Zürich. He started his independent research career in 2013 at the University of Cambridge as a Royal Society University Research Fellow. In 2018, he was appointed University Lecturer and was promoted to Reader in 2019 and to Full Professor in 2022.

Prof. Bernardes is the recipient of three European Research Council grants and has won many accolades during his career, including the 2023 EFMC-WuXi AppTec Award for Excellence in Chemical Biology and the 2024 Corday-Morgan Prize for Chemistry from the Royal Society of Chemistry. His research group interests focus on the use of chemistry principles to provide new biological insights and derive new targeted therapeutics. Finally, he has co-founded five companies that utilize technologies developed in his lab, and he is a Senior Fellow at Flagship Pioneering, the most prominent global venture incubator, which has generated companies such as Moderna. He is a first-generation high-school and university graduate in his family.

About the Virtual Chemistry Lecture Series

Pharmaron’s monthly Virtual Lecture Series, launched in July 2020, provides our team and partners with online educational opportunities. World-class academic researchers are invited to present novel research related to synthetic and medicinal chemistry through this virtual forum. The lectures have been insightful and very well received by the audience and have contributed to cultivating a vibrant learning culture at Pharmaron.