CSB Cutting Lecture Series: Jun O. Liu, PhD, Friday, April 11, 2025, 12:30 pm, Munzer!
The Department of Chemical and Systems Biology Presents
Cutting Lecture Series
Jun O. Liu, PhD
Professor of Pharmacology and Oncology
Johns Hopkins School of Medicine
Friday, April 11, 2025
12:30 PM – 1:30 PM (Pacific Time)
Munzer Auditorium
Talk Title: “Natural product-inspired molecular glues as new chemical tools and potential drug leads”
Abstract: The macrocyclic natural products rapamycin, FK506 and cyclosporin are founding members of a new mechanistic class of protein modulators as molecular glues. They induce the formation of ternary complexes between cellular chaperones (FKBP and cyclophilin) with their respective target proteins (mTOR and calcineurin). Inspired by the unique scaffolds and extraordinary mode of action of these molecular glues, we designed and synthesized a library of new hybrid macrocycles called rapafucins by fusing the FKBP-binding domain of rapafucin with a combinatorial peptide library. The rapafucin library has proven to be an invaluable source for discovering new molecular glues and powerful modulators of challenging protein targets.