NEWS
We are thrilled to announce that Professor Gonçalo Bernardes has been awarded the prestigious 2024 Corday-Morgan Mid-Career Prize for Chemistry. His groundbreaking work in targeted therapeutics, including small molecule-based RNA degradation and the conditional activation of chemotherapeutics, has earned him this honour. Professor Bernardes attributes this achievement to the dedication and talent of his students, colleagues, and family. We celebrate his contributions to advancing human health through innovative chemistry. Full details about the award can be found here.
Congratulations to Gonçalo, who has been recognised by the European Federation for Medicinal Chemistry and Chemical Biology with the EFMC-WuXi AppTec Award for Excellence in Chemical Biology.
Gonçalo's remarkable research in developing a new strategy for 'hijacking' and degrading RNA, dubbed meCLICK-Seq, is recognised in this award. Full details about the award can be found here.
Our new work describing small molecules that degrade genomes of SARS-CoV-2 has been
published in ACS Central Science and highlighted in several media, including Fierce Biotech. This study describes a method to convert RNA binders into degraders, which are utilised to target two RNA structures in the
genome of SARS-CoV-2. These molecular constructs are demonstrated to degrade their targets and
exert anti-SARS-CoV-2 effects in a number of model systems.
Our work on discovering Piperlongumine as a SARS-CoV-2 host-directed antiviral has been published in ACS Central Science and highlighted in EurekAlert and MedicalExpress, here. This study reveals that Piperlongumine selectively induces an increase in ROS levels in infected cells and significantly inhibits disease progression in a mouse model. It provides a new approach to combat SARS-CoV-2 variants and even other viruses. Check out the EurekAlert and Medical Express articles and our research paper.
Our new method that ‘masks’ cancer-killing drugs and avoids harming healthy cells has now been published! This new approach uses a molecular carrier to deliver ortho-quinones directly to specific cells and shield healthy cells from the drug. You can read a News & Views about our work, here, and news article about our work here. If you want to learn more, you can read the full article in Nature Chemistry, here.
Congratulations to Gonçalo who has been promoted to Full Professor at the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge.
Gonçalo is very grateful for the talent and hard-work of all of the undergraduate students, graduate students, postdoctoral researchers, and collaborators that he has worked with, and for the support from his family. Excellent news!
Many congratulations to Gonçalo who has been named as a finalist for the 2022 Blavatnik Awards UK. The Blavatnik Awards for Young Scientists celebrate the achievements and potential of young faculty and their innovative research. Gonçalo's work in the area of ‘bench-to-clinic’ bioorthogonal chemistry is recognised in this award. Full details about the award and this years’ winners can be found here.
Our work in collaboration with Prof. Tuomas Knowles on how shear forces affect the rates of biomolecular reactions has been highlighted by Derek Lowe on his In The Pipeline blog, in Nature Chemical Biology and in Chemistry World. Our latest method uses biophysically mimetic microfluidic reactors to model the shear stresses that occur in capilliaries and the resultant effects on reactions and protein structure. Check out Derek's article, the Nature Chemical Biology article, the Chemistry World article and our research paper.
Our work in collaboration with Prof. Vera Moiseenkova-Bell from the Perelman School of Medicine, US, on allosteric antagonist modulation of TRPV2 by piperlongumine to impair progression of glioblastoma has been highlighted in EurekAlert! and Público.
Our latest method uses advanced computer modelling to identify targets for natural products with anticancer properties. This work uses piperlongumine to treat an aggressive brain cancer, glioblastoma, and initial results in mice have been exceptionally positive. Check out the EurekAlert! and Público (in Portuguese) articles and our research paper.
Congratulations to our many recent fellowship awardees. Many congratulations to Drs Cong Tang, Enrique Gil de Montes, Yanira Mendez and Luís Carvalho on being awarded Marie Sklodowska Curie Fellowships. Also to Dr Michael Geeson on being awarded an EMBO Fellowship and to Dr Daniel Zaidman for being awarded a Blavatnik Fellowhsip. We look foward to working with you all as part of your new fellowships later this year.
Our work on a small-molecule-based transcriptome-editing platform that hijacks RNA methylation pathways (meCLICK-Seq) has been highlighted in C&EN and as a First Reactions piece in ACS Cent. Sci. Our new method relies on small-molecule click degraders to identify sites of methylated RNA, which control many biological processes. Check out the C&EN article, the First Reactions piece and our full paper.
Our newly developed machine-learning software, LateMate.ML, that can optimise chemical reactions equally well as trained researchers has been highlighted in Chemistry World. You can read the news article here. If you want to learn more, you can read the full article, which has been published in Cell Reports Physical Science, here.
New hope for weight-loss drug with fewer side effects. Congratulations to Gonçalo, Ana Domingos (University of Oxford) and colleagues in Portugal for their work to create a new type of amphetamine that in mice does not have behavioural or dangerous side effects associated with traditional amphetamine-based weight-loss drugs. Read more here.
Congratulations to Gonçalo who has been appointed to serve on the Editorial Advisory Board of ACS Central Science. ACS Central Science is an open-access journal published by the American Chemical Society. This brings the number of journals Gonçalo works with to five. He also works with Chem, Chem. Sci., Org. Biomol. Chem. and Chem. Soc. Rev.
Many congratulations to Dr João Conde who has been awarded an ERC starting grant. João will now be moving on from his position as a Postdoctoral Researcher in the GBernardes lab to start his independent career at the Instituto de Medicina Molecular in Lisbon. Congratulations João. Fantastic news!
Chemistry World highlights our last study on β-lapachone, an allosteric inhibitor for 5-lipoxygenase. The help of artificial intelligence was essential in this study and the results indicate once more that machine learning will be a leading tool for drug discovery in the future. Congratulations to Tiago and all our co-workers that participated in this study! Check out the highlight and the paper
Congratulations to Gonçalo who was appointed as a University Lecturer at the Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge after 5 years as a Royal Society URF! Great news!
C&E news highlights our work on chemo and regio-selective lysine modification on native proteins. This computer-aided discovery focuses on a sulfonyl acrylate reagent that selectively targets only the most reactive lysine in a protein, giving researchers a new option for site-specifically modifying proteins.
Check out the highlight and the paper
Gonçalo Bernardes has been selected to receive the 2018 MedChemComm Emerging Investigator Lectureship for his significant contributions to medicinal chemistry.
"I am honoured to receive this distinction from an organisation I admire so much and I'm so incredibly proud of the work of my entire research group at Cambridge and iMM Lisbon.”
The award specifically refers to his work on protein conjugates and his impact on the field of antibody conjugates. He will be invited to give the award lecture later this year at a conference to be confirmed.
Nature magazine highlights the rubber-like polysulfide polymer featured on our most recent paper - an exciting collaboration work with the Dr Justin Chalker at Flinders University, Australia. The last generation polymer is a porous material synthesised simply out of old cooking oil and sulfur in the presence of sodium chloride. The resulting rubber has the ability to capture liquid mercury metal, mercury vapour, inorganic mercury bound to organic matter, and highly toxic alkylmercury compounds. Check out the highlight and paper.
Lisbon was the meeting point to gather our teams in the first ever GBernardesLab Retreat. Deemed a huge success, members of the Cambridge and Lisbon laboratory got together for three days of intense scientific discussions, sharing ideas and good fun.
Manipulation of nerve cells in adipose tissue predisposes mice to obesity. Our most recent work on the design of a toxin that selectively targets and removes nerve cells present only in fat tissue while sparing the central nervous system was featured on the BBC Radio Cambridgeshire's show The Naked Scientists. Our study showed that mice given the engineered toxin became susceptible to obesity. Check out the podcast.
Visit to Australian Universities next April. With the support of a Flinders’ Visiting International Research Fellowship, Gonçalo will spend 3 weeks at Flinders University as a visiting professor, hosted by Dr. Justin Chalker's lab. Seminars are also planned at the University of Sydney and University of Adelaide.
A very exciting couple of weeks with a number of competitive individual fellowships awarded to the lab. Congratulations to Dr. Tiago Rodrigues, the proud recipient of a Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship. Congratulations also to our coming MPhil students Grant Simpson (awarded a Gates-Cambridge scholarship), Emily Hoyt and Luxi Qiao (both awarded a Herschel-Smith fellowship). And congrats to Lavinia Dunsmore who now holds a BBSRC DTP fellowship to perform her graduate studies in the GBernardes lab. Looking forward to welcome you all.
Our work on stoichiometric and irreversible modification cysteine on proteins and antibodies has just been published in Nature Communications. Congratulations to Barbara and all our co-workers that participated on this study.
Gonçalo Bernardes was awarded the Harrison–Meldola Memorial Prize 2016 from the Royal Society of Chemistry. This prize recognizes the most meritorious and promising original investigations in chemistry and published results of those investigations.
Gonçalo Bernardes is the winner of the Chem Soc Rev Emerging Investigator Lectureship 2016. This award lectureship is given annually to recognize emerging scientists who have made a significant contribution to their research field.
Gonçalo Bernardes has been distinguished with the International Award of the Belgian Society of Pharmaceutical Sciences (BSPS) 2016.
Gonçalo visits Chinese Universities. With the support of the Royal Society of Chemistry SAFEA Visiting Researcher Programme, Gonçalo spent a week in China giving seminars at Tianjin, Tsinghua and Peking Universities. Check out his trip diary.
Fantastic news! Gonçalo Bernardes got an ERC Starting Grant 15 with his project entitled: A Minimal-Tag Bioorthogonal Labeling Approach to Protein Uptake, Trafficking and Delivery. This competitive grant provides 1.5 million € in funding for the next 5 years.
3 Marie-Curie Postdoctoral Individual Fellowships for the lab. Congratulations to Drs Bruno Oliveira, João Seixas and Ester Jiménez who were each awarded a prestigious Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship.
Gonçalo’s 50th paper is out on Angew Chem - An exciting collaboration work with the Chalker lab at Flinders University in Australia. The paper features a polysulfide polymer synthesized solely from industrial by-products that has the ability of binding mercury and palladium from water and soil - a property that may find practical use in toxic metals sequestration.
Gonçalo’s 50th paper is out on Angew Chem - An exciting collaboration work with the Chalker lab at Flinders University in Australia. The paper features a polysulfide polymer synthesized solely from industrial by-products that has the ability of binding mercury and palladium from water and soil - a property that may find practical use in toxic metals sequestration.