Professor Alessio Ciulli

Research in the Ciulli Lab broadly spans the fields of Chemical Biology and Structural Biology of Protein-Protein Interactions (PPIs) and is specifically concerned with studies of druggability of PPIs to small molecule modulators. Of particular interest are protein surfaces and interfaces recognizing protein Post-Translational Modifications (PTMs) within multi-domain and multi-subunit protein complexes. We employ a question-driven, multi-disciplinary approach that combines chemical, biophysical and structural techniques with the concepts and approaches of fragment-based and structure-based drug design. The 'chemical probes' we design and develop are evaluated biophysically, structurally and whenever possible within living cells as tools to address biological questions, and as starting leads with potential to be developed as novel therapeutics.

Current and future research efforts are directed towards targeting PPIs and PTM recognition within two protein families of biological and medical relevance:

Ubiquitin System: the Cullin RING E3 ubiquitin ligases (CRLs) multisubunit complexes

Chromatin System: Multidomain proteins of containing paired domains of the epigenetic reader families

BS42011:  A 4th year module entitled "Advanced Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology"