Molecular Horizons Seminar - Associate Professor Yu Heng Lau

In this seminar, I will highlight several diverse research stories that have emerged in our lab over the past seven years, spanning organic chemistry, protein biochemistry, and a little bit of cell (micro)biology. 

Cancer drug discovery: We have spent the past five years pursuing the first inhibitors of proteins involved in the Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres pathway (e.g. FANCM/RMI), which mediate unrestricted cell replication in cancers such as osteosarcoma. Our discovery approaches have ranged from biological screening techniques (mRNA and phage display) for identifying cyclic peptides with nanomolar potency, to fragment and small molecule screens as a pipeline to translation. 

Protein cage assembly: We are investigating the molecular fundamentals and biotechnological potential of encapsulins, self-assembling protein cages that natively function as simple organelles in bacteria. Using a mix of rational design and evolutionary selection, we have engineered encapsulins as nanoreactors for hosting crucial transformations such as carbon fixation. Serendipitously, we have also discovered unexpected self-assembly phenomena – reprogrammed symmetry, metastable states of disassembly, dynamic states of assembly – which may open new biotechnological opportunities in vaccine development and drug delivery.