TopPic

SGC Frankfurt

 

The Structural Genomics Consortium at the Goethe University Frankfurt (SGC Frankfurt) is a research node of the SGC, an international public private partnership and open science network. The SGC catalyses new research areas of human biology by providing high resolution structure information, assay systems and chemical tools. The main focus of the SGC node in Frankfurt are protein kinases, proteins regulating the ubiquitin system as well as epigenetic mechanisms. The site coordinates the Innovative Medicine Initiative (IMI) Program EUbOPEN and it is a partner in the Target2035 initiative, two large international efforts with the goal covering the human proteome with high quality chemical tools.

 

 

News

 

February 2024

From the lab to the patient - New consortium TACTIC will develop new cancer therapies

We are proud to announce that the joint initiative "Targeting transcriptional AddiCTion In Cancer (TACTIC)" chaired by Stefan Knapp, the CSO of the SGC Frankfurt, has received a 5 year grant of 11.8 Million Euros from the German Cancer Aid for the development of new cancer therapeutics.

 

Cancer develops due to genetic and epigenetic alterations that ultimately lead to dysregulated transcriptional programs. To date, the transcriptional machinery has been poorly explored by conventional drug discovery efforts, but this area has now become accessible by the development of small molecules targeting chromatin modifiers and the advent of new pharmacological modalities such as selective protein degraders.

 

TACTIC aims to develop new pharmacological modalities, which will help to correct altered transcriptional programs in cancer cells. In addition to conventional small molecule drugs, TACTIC will develop new modalities such as PROTACs (proteolysis targeting chimeras) which not only inhibit cancer-associated proteins, but also completely and selectively degrade them. Developing such molecules opens up exciting new possibilities, especially for oncogenic targets that were considered thus far undruggable. The consortium will work on a selected target portfolio covering different stages of the drug discovery pipeline, and at the same time developing technology platforms for the cancer research community to also enable future drug discovery on other cancer-related targets.

 

Read the full press release here.

 

November 2021

Stefan Knapp selected as one of the worlds’ most influential scientists by Clarivate Analytics Read more

Publications

 

Target 2035

 

Berger BT, Amaral M, Kokh DB, Nunes-Alves A, Musil D, Heinrich T, Schröder M, Neil R, Wang J, Navratilova I, Bomke J, Elkins JM, Müller S, Frech M, Wade RC, Knapp S. Structure-kinetic relationship reveals the mechanism of selectivity of FAK inhibitors over PYK2. Cell Chem Biol. 2021 Link

 

Malik AU, Karapetsas A, Nirujogi RS, Mathea S, Chatterjee D, Pal P, Lis P, Taylor M, Purlyte E, Gourlay R, Dorward M, Weidlich S, Toth R, Polinski NK, Knapp S, Tonelli F, Alessi DR. Deciphering the LRRK code: LRRK1 and LRRK2 phosphorylate distinct Rab proteins and are regulated by diverse mechanisms. Biochem J. 2021 Link

 

 

Contact

 

Susanne Müller-Knapp
Chief Operating Officer
Tel: +49 (0) 69 798-42501
E-mail:
frankfurt (at) thesgc.org

Address:
Max-von-Laue-Straße 15,
60438 Frankfurt am Main



 

 


Funding acknowledgement

The Structural Genomics Consortium is a registered charity (no: 1097737) that receives funds from Bayer AG, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Genentech, Genome Canada through Ontario Genomics Institute [OGI-196], EU/EFPIA/OICR/McGill/KTH/Diamond Innovative Medicines Initiative 2 Joint Undertaking [EUbOPEN grant 875510], Janssen, Merck KGaA (aka EMD in Canada and US), Pfizer and Takeda.