Platform to rapidly turn any drug into a live-cell proteomics probe for cancer drugs
Official title: Democratizing Chemical Proteomics: A Platform for Same-Day Photoaffinity Probes to Drive Whole-Proteome Selectivity in Cancer Drug Discovery
Funded at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki · NIH-11464656 · Data updated 2026-11-12
A new tool will let scientists quickly test how cancer drugs interact with many proteins inside live cells to improve safety and effectiveness.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Aristotle University of Thessaloniki NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Thessaloniki, Greece) |
| Project start | September 15, 2026 |
| Project end | August 31, 2029 |
| Funding year | 2026 |
| Award (this year) | $147,127 |
| NIH project number | 1R61CA317242-01 |
| Project ID | NIH-11464656 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Ideal candidates are patients with cancer participating in future trials or individuals contributing human-derived samples for related analyses.
✕Less likely to help
Patients not yet enrolled in a specific trial or whose cancer biology is not addressed by the probes may see no direct benefit.
What this research studies
This project creates a synthesis-free way to turn small molecules into proteomic probes that work in living cells, so researchers can see which proteins drugs touch early in development. It will use trifunctional building blocks to generate probes on the same day, enabling rapid profiling of drug–protein interactions. The approach aims to map structure–proteome relationships across many targets, helping identify off-target effects sooner in the drug discovery process. The work is conducted in a lab setting using cancer-related compounds and human cell models to assess selectivity.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, patients could benefit from faster development of safer, more selective cancer drugs.
How similar studies have gone: Previous chemoproteomic approaches have profiled limited fractions of drugs, and this project proposes a novel, broader, rapid-profiling method with promising potential.
Where this research is happening
-
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Thessaloniki, Greece Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Korovesis, Dimitris — Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
- Study coordinator: Korovesis, Dimitris
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.