Chemical Biology and Cancer Drug Discovery Laboratory
We develop small molecules, hetero-bifunctional Proteolysis-Targeting Chimeras (PROTACs), or Lysosome-Targeting Chimera (LYTACs) for new strategies to inhibit or activate some of the most challenging protein targets in cancer and cancer immunotherapy. We follow a fragment-based drug discovery approach to develop our small molecules. We establish target engagement of small molecules in mammalian cells including breast, pancreatic, lung, brain and other cancer cells. Some of our small molecules are evaluated in animal models. We are interested in RAS and Rho GTPases, TEAD and ETS transcription factors, cell-surface protein uPAR, and HPV E6/E7 oncogenes.
If you are interested in joining us on this journey, please email me at smeroueh@illinois.edu. There are several openings for student and postdoc positions in my laboratory.