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

Oxetane Grafts Installed Site‐Selectively on Native Disulfides to Enhance Protein Stability and Activity In Vivo
N Martínez‐Sáez, S Sun, D Oldrini, P Sormanni, O Boutureira, F Carboni, I Compañón, MJ Deery, M Vendruscolo, F Corzana, R Adamo, GJL Bernardes
Angewandte Chemie
(2017)
129
Oxetane Grafts Installed Site-Selectively on Native Disulfides to Enhance Protein Stability and Activity In Vivo.
N Martínez-Sáez, S Sun, D Oldrini, P Sormanni, O Boutureira, F Carboni, I Compañón, MJ Deery, M Vendruscolo, F Corzana, R Adamo, GJ Lopes Bernardes
Angewandte Chemie International Edition
(2017)
56
Enhanced Permeability and Binding Activity of Isobutylene-Grafted Peptides
S Sun, I Compañón, N Martínez-Sáez, JD Seixas, O Boutureira, F Corzana, GJL Bernardes
ChemBioChem
(2017)
19
Laying Waste to Mercury: Inexpensive Sorbents Made from Sulfur and Recycled Cooking Oils.
GJ Lopes Bernardes
Chemistry A European Journal
(2017)
23
A Water-Bridged Cysteine-Cysteine Redox Regulation Mechanism in Bacterial Protein Tyrosine Phosphatases.
JB Bertoldo, T Rodrigues, L Dunsmore, FA Aprile, MC Marques, LA Rosado, O Boutureira, TB Steinbrecher, W Sherman, F Corzana, H Terenzi, GJL Bernardes
Chem
(2017)
3
Nickel-Catalyzed Azide–Alkyne Cycloaddition To Access 1,5-Disubstituted 1,2,3-Triazoles in Air and Water
WG Kim, ME Kang, JB Lee, MH Jeon, S Lee, J Lee, B Choi, PMSD Cal, S Kang, J-M Kee, GJL Bernardes, J-U Rohde, W Choe, SY Hong
J Am Chem Soc
(2017)
139
Inverse electron demand Diels-Alder reactions in chemical biology
GJ Lopes Bernardes, BL Oliveira, Z Guo
Chem Soc Rev
(2017)
46
Corrigendum: A brain-sparing diphtheria toxin for chemical genetic ablation of peripheral cell lineages.
MMA Pereira, I Mahú, E Seixas, N Martinéz-Sánchez, N Kubasova, RM Pirzgalska, P Cohen, MO Dietrich, M López, GJL Bernardes, AI Domingos
Nat Commun
(2017)
8
Frontispiece: Site‐Selective Modification of Proteins with Oxetanes
O Boutureira, N Martínez‐Sáez, KM Brindle, AA Neves, F Corzana, GJL Bernardes
Chemistry - A European Journal
(2017)
23
Site‐Selective Modification of Proteins with Oxetanes
O Boutureira, N Martínez-Sáez, KM Brindle, AA Neves, F Corzana, GJ Lopes Bernardes
Chemistry
(2017)
23

Group Leader

Research Interest Groups

Telephone number

01223 336305

Email address

College