Infectious Diseases
Parasitic and viral infections remain among the leading causes of death worldwide, disproportionately affecting low-resource settings. We develop small molecules targeting key stages of pathogen biology — from phenotypic antimalarials to mechanism-based protease inhibitors and targeted degraders.
Antiparasitic Agents
Malaria and related parasitic diseases remain among the most pressing global health challenges. Our group has a long-standing interest in the development of novel antimalarial agents, rooted in the design and synthesis of hundreds of amidophenoxypropanolamine derivatives with demonstrated structure–activity relationships and in vivo efficacy. This work also pioneered photoaffinity labeling strategies to identify the molecular targets of arylamino alcohol antimalarials, bridging synthetic and chemical biology. Beyond malaria, preliminary investigations have indicated activity against other neglected tropical diseases, including leishmaniasis, trypanosomiasis, and toxoplasmosis. We are exploring opportunities to build on this foundation through new collaborations and biological testing partnerships.
Amidophenoxypropanolamine — an antimalarial compound from the Dank Lab.
SARS-CoV-2 Main Protease (MPro) Inhibitors
The main protease (MPro) of SARS-CoV-2 is an essential enzyme for viral replication and a validated antiviral drug target. In collaboration with Dr. Martin Lepšík, Dr. Mikuláš Klenor, and Dr. Pavel Majer (IOCB Prague) and Prof. Julien Orts (University of Vienna), we pursue a computational-to-bench pipeline for novel MPro inhibitors. In silico hit identification and design by our Czech partners guides our synthetic efforts, with binding affinity and binding site characterization performed by NMR spectroscopy in the Orts group. This trilateral collaboration exemplifies our integrative approach to antiviral drug discovery.
From computation to bench — the MPro inhibitor discovery pipeline.
Targeted Protein Degradation (PROTACs)
Targeted protein degradation has emerged as a powerful paradigm in drug discovery, enabling the selective elimination of disease-relevant proteins rather than mere inhibition. Christian gained first-hand experience in PROTAC design and synthesis at Boehringer Ingelheim, contributing to the development of structure-based degraders of BAF complex ATPases SMARCA2/4 (Nat. Chem. Biol. 2019), with related intellectual property protection (EP3867263B1), and selective PTK2 degraders (J. Med. Chem. 2019). Building on this foundation, our group is developing PROTAC capabilities with a focus on E3 ligase–linker conjugates as modular building blocks for new degrader programs, including applications in antiviral research.
PROTAC mechanism — targeted protein degradation via the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway.