Molecules Webinar | Design & Application of Chemical Probes

Molecules, Design & Application of Chemical Probes, Chemical Biology

Webinar Information

4th Molecules Webinar

Design & Application of Chemical Probes

Chemical probes are central tools in chemical biology. They allow perturbation of protein function or facilitate covalent labeling of proteins according to a certain trait, such as an enzymatic activity, post-translational modification or drug-binding property. These then allow targeted detection by gel-based methods, target visualization by imaging techniques and target identification by proteomics.

In this webinar, two of our editorial board members will present work on the synthesis and application of chemical probes for covalent labeling of protein targets. The lectures in this webinar relate to a recent Special Issue on Advances in Chemical Biology.

Prof. Dr. Steven Verhelst
KU Leuven, Belgium
Leibniz Institute for Analytical Sciences ISAS in Dortmund, Germany

Date: 11 March 2021

Time: 3:00 pm CET

Webinar ID: 858 5628 3328

Webinar Secretariat: molecules.webinar@mdpi.com

Chair: Prof. Dr. Steven Verhelst

The following experts will present and talk:

Prof. Dr. Steven Verhelst, KU Leuven, Belgium
Leibniz Institute for Analytical Sciences ISAS in Dortmund, Germany

Prof. Dr. Steven Verhelst is associate professor in Chemical Biology at the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at KU Leuven, Belgium, and group leader in Chemical Proteomics at the Leibniz Institute for Analytical Sciences ISAS in Dortmund, Germany. His research work is focused on the development of activity-based probes and probes for photoaffinity labeling for different enzyme classes, with a primary focus on cysteine and serine proteases involved in human pathology, and in rhomboid intramembrane proteases. In addition, his lab works on the development of cleavable linker technology and its application in chemical proteomics.

Prof. Dr. Martin Witte,
University of Groningen,
the Netherlands

Prof. Dr. Martin Witte is an Associate Professor of Chemical Biology at the Stratingh Institute for Chemistry, University of Groningen, Groningen, the Netherlands. His research focuses on the development of chemical tools for the site-selective functionalization of biomolecules. To label proteins of interest, his lab synthesizes activity- and affinity-based probes. To simplify the identification of probe leads, his lab establishes novel methodologies that simplify the synthesis, screening and optimization of probes. Together with the group of Prof. Dr. Minnaard, Martin develops novel approaches that enable site-selective modification of carbohydrates. To date, Martin has co-authored over 60 scientific articles (h-index 25) on the synthesis and application of activity-based probes, protein modification methods and site-selective modification of carbohydrates.

Prof. Dr. Aaron Wright,
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Washington State University, USA

Prof. Dr. Aaron Wright is a senior scientist leading the Biological Systems Science Department at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and he holds a joint appointment as a research professor in Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering at Washington State University (WSU). His chemical biology research team is focused on gaining an improved functional and mechanistic understanding of biological processes, including: spatiotemporal, functional and interaction dynamics of microbes and microbiomes, impacts of environmental exposures on human health and metabolism and the coupling of host metabolism to the gut microbiome.

Program

Speaker/Presentation	Time in CET
Prof. Dr. Steven Verhelst Chair Introduction	3:00 – 3:05 pm
Prof. Dr. Steven Verhelst Solid phase synthesis of covalent chemical probes for proteases and hydrolases	3:05 –3:30 pm
Prof. Dr. Martin Witte Combinatorial approaches in activity- and affinity-based probe synthesis	3:30 – 3:55 pm
Prof. Dr. Aaron T. Wright Activity-based protein profiling of host-associated and environmental microbiomes	3:55 - 4:20 pm
Q&A and Discussion	4:20 - 4:40 pm
Closing of Webinar Prof. Dr. Steven Verhelst	4:40 - 4:45 pm

Registration

In order to attend the webinar, please register by clicking on the button below.

This is a FREE webinar. The number of participants to the live session is limited but the recording will be made available on Sciforum shortly afterwards. Registrations with academic institutional email addresses will be prioritized. Participants in this webinar will be granted a 20% discount of article processing charges if they submit papers in Relevant Special Issues or in Section Chemical Biology .People can send in their questions by email to molecules.webinar@mdpi.com.

Webinar Content

On Thursday, 11 March 2021, MDPI and the Journal Molecules organized the 4th webinar on Molecules, entitled "Design & Application of Chemical Probes".

The webinar on the topic of chemical probe design and application had a specific focus on covalent chemical probes. The content itself was a good mix of chemistry and biology. After a brief introduction, Prof. Steven Verhelst had the first talk, mainly focused on discussing chemical strategies for probe design on solid support and how to synthesize selective probes for various protease and hydrolase enzymes.

After him, Prof. Martin Witte presented his work entitled "Combinatorial approaches in activity- and affinity-based probe synthesis". In it, he discussed new ways of synthesizing probe libraries in solution by forming highly efficient iminoboronates in a bioorthogonal reaction.

Finally, Prof. Aaron Wright presented applications of covalent chemical probes for carbohydrate processing enzymes in profiling the microbiome, in his talk "Activity-based protein profiling of host-associated and environmental microbiomes".

Their presentations were followed by a Q&A and a discussion, moderated by the chair, Prof. Dr. Steven Verhelst. The webinar was offered via Zoom and required registration to attend. The full recording can be found here on Sciforum website.

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Relevant Special Issues

Special Issues in Molecules

The Development and Application of Covalent Chemical Probes
Guest Editor: Prof. Dr. Steven Verhelst

Feature Review Papers in Chemical Biology
Guest Editors: Prof. Dr. Akinori Kuzuya, Prof. Dr. Roland J. Pieters, Dr. Takuya Terai, Prof. Dr. Eylon Yavin, Prof. Dr. Eylon Yavin and Prof. Dr. Isao Kii

Small Molecule Inhibitors and Probes of Therapeutically-Relevant Enzymes
Guest Editors: Dr. Sanjai Kumar Pathak and Dr. Dibyendu Dana

Chemical Probe Synthesis and Applications in Chemical Biology
Guest Editor: James T. Hodgkinson