Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Ubl-tool (Development of a chemical biology toolbox for deciphering the ubiquitin code)
Berichtszeitraum: 2021-09-01 bis 2023-02-28
Within Ubl-tool we devise a modular and interdisciplinary chemical and synthetic biology platform for studying aspects of ubiquitylation that are challenging or impossible to be addressed by more traditional technologies. We will develop innovative toolkits for generating defined Ubl architectures, including mixed, branched and hybrid Ubl chains and we will apply these tools for identifying novel reader proteins as well as for studying the functional impact of these complex types of modifications on critical cellular processes. Given its fundamental importance in eukaryotic biology, the Ub system has attracted considerable interest and promise as therapeutic target. We aim at identifying new drug targets within the Ub system by developing in cellulo activity-based probes that allow profiling activities and specificities of Ub eraser enzymes, laying thereby the foundation for the discovery of next-generation therapeutics.
As our approaches will be easily implementable in typical biology research labs we envision that these technologies will have the potential to provide immediate impact to many researchers in the ubiquitin field and will spur biological discovery.