Targeting key drivers in SCLC for the development of new therapeutic concepts (A07*)

• Subject Area: Biological and Biomimetic Chemistry
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 413326622

S. Knapp and his team will continue to work on providing chemical probes to interrogate critical pathways of SCLC tumorigenesis. In particular, they will make their growing collections of chemical probes targeting epigenetic modifiers and kinases for mechanistic studies in SCLC available. Furthermore, they will continue their analysis of chemical-based screening of SCLC cell lines to identify such vulnerabilities. In a new effort to interfere with critical pathways in SCLC, they will strive to create novel molecules to inhibit the catalytic activity of telomerase in a structure-based drug design approach exploiting novel insights from crystallography and EM studies of human telomerase. Finally, the team will continue their efforts on developing chemical degraders for targeted degradation of key proteins involved in SCLC biology including lysine methyl transferases such as G9A in collaboration with Michael Hölzel's group.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1399: Mechanisms of drug sensitivity and resistance in small cell lung cancer
• Applicant Institution: Universität zu Köln
• Project Head: Professor Dr. Stefan Knapp, since 7/2023