skip to content

Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry

 

Professor of Chemical Biology

Gonçalo Bernardes is a Professor of Chemical Biology & a Fellow of Trinity Hall College, Cambridge.

What we do

Nature has its own machinery for modifying the structure of proteins. In our research, we’re attempting to mimic this machinery to gain significant therapeutic benefits. We’re engineering chemical reactions that enable us to modify proteins while allowing to choose the precise location in the protein’s structure where we want to install these modifications.

This work has a whole range of applications. For example, we’re currently developing ways of selectively labelling proteins in living cells: this can help us monitor the proteins associated with particular diseases without interfering either with the protein’s structure, function, activity and location or upsetting the cell’s normal functions. Another important potential application for this work is linking cytotoxic drug molecules (molecules that are poisonous to cells) to antibodies and then using the antibody to deliver the drug in a very targeted way to the diseased tissue. This could improve the effectiveness of cancer treatments and reduce their side effects.

These are two examples from among our lines of research that use site-selective and bioorthogonal chemistry to address challenges in biology and medicine. We hope our methods may in future be used in laboratories around the world to help develop new drugs with improved effectiveness and reduced side-effects for some of the most common diseases such as cancer.

Funding

We are funded by the Royal Society, by UKRI (EPSRC) and by the European Commission (Marie Sklodowska Curie actions & European Research Council)

For further information on our research and for opportunities, please check our research group website.

Watch Professor Bernardes discuss his research

Take a tour of the Bernardes Lab

Publications

Small Molecule RNA Degraders
J Bonet‐Aleta, T Maehara, BA Craig, GJL Bernardes
– Angewandte Chemie
(2024)
e202412925
Designed endocytosis-inducing proteins degrade targets and amplify signals.
B Huang, M Abedi, G Ahn, B Coventry, I Sappington, C Tang, R Wang, T Schlichthaerle, JZ Zhang, Y Wang, I Goreshnik, CW Chiu, A Chazin-Gray, S Chan, S Gerben, A Murray, S Wang, J O'Neill, L Yi, R Yeh, A Misquith, A Wolf, LM Tomasovic, DI Piraner, MJ Duran Gonzalez, NR Bennett, P Venkatesh, M Ahlrichs, C Dobbins, W Yang, X Wang, DD Sahtoe, D Vafeados, R Mout, S Shivaei, L Cao, L Carter, L Stewart, JB Spangler, KT Roybal, PJ Greisen, X Li, GJL Bernardes, CR Bertozzi, D Baker
– Nature
(2024)
1
Non‐Natural MUC1 Glycopeptide Homogeneous Cancer Vaccine with Enhanced Immunogenicity and Therapeutic Activity
A Guerreiro, I Compañón, FS Lazaris, C Labão-Almeida, P Oroz, M Ghirardello, MC Marques, F Corzana, GJL Bernardes
– Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English)
(2024)
e202411009
Proximity-driven site-specific cyclization of phage-displayed peptides.
L Brown, AV Vidal, AL Dias, T Rodrigues, A Sigurdardottir, T Journeaux, S O'Brien, TV Murray, P Ravn, M Papworth, GJL Bernardes
– Nature communications
(2024)
15,
7308
Small Molecule RNA Degraders
J Bonet-Aleta, T Maehara, BA Craig, GJL Bernardes
– Angewandte Chemie International Edition
(2024)
e202412925
Gold(III)-Induced Amide Bond Cleavage In Vivo: A Dual Release Strategy via π-Acid Mediated Allyl Substitution
VB Unnikrishnan, V Sabatino, F Amorim, MF Estrada, CD Navo, G Jimenez-Oses, R Fior, GJL Bernardes
– J Am Chem Soc
(2024)
146,
23240
On-Demand Thio-Succinimide Hydrolysis for the Assembly of Stable Protein-Protein Conjugates
AV Vasco, RJ Taylor, Y Méndez, GJL Bernardes
– Journal of the American Chemical Society
(2024)
146,
20709
Homogeneous multi-payload antibody-drug conjugates.
T Journeaux, GJL Bernardes
– Nature Chemistry
(2024)
16,
854
Targeted protein editing with an antibody-based system
M Vendruscolo, O Rimon, J Konc, M Ali, VR Chowdhury, P Sormanni, G Bernardes
(2024)
Cathepsin B Processing Is Required for the In Vivo Efficacy of Albumin-Drug Conjugates
B Bernardim, J Conde, T Hakala, JB Becher, M Canzano, AV Vasco, TPJ Knowles, J Cameron, GJL Bernardes
– Bioconjugate Chemistry
(2024)
35,
132
  • 1 of 25
  • >

Research Group

Research Interest Groups

Telephone number

01223 336305

Email address

gb453@cam.ac.uk

College

Trinity Hall