Thomas Poulsen

Chemistry is at the heart of modern biotechnology. Of particular relevance is the development of chemical processes or reagents which enable production of biological drugs – such as antibodies or peptide hormones – with enhanced or straight-out novel properties. Chemical reactivity can also be favorably embedded within small molecule drugs to improve both specificity and efficacy. In this project, we will focus broadly on the development and application of new types of chemically reactive groups that are compatible with use in biological systems and which can enable construction of novel types of bioconjugates. We will also integrate the efficient synthesis of high-complexity reactive compounds with detailed mapping of both direct proteomic targets and overall bioactivity profiles – the latter using an image-based approach. The goal is to identify precisely those special molecules with unprecedented modes-of-action which can be starting points for further development.