Two million for activity-based protein profiling research

Professors Hermen Overkleeft en Hans Aerts of Leiden University have received an NWO TOP-PUNT grant of 2 million euro, together with their colleague Huib ovaa of the Netherlands Cancer Institute. The research is aimed at developing novel therapies for various diseases.

Sugar and proteins

Overkleeft, Aerts and Ovaa study the cytosolic protein degradation and lysosomale glycolipid degradation in the cel. Disruption of these processes can be the cause of various diseases, such as diabetes, auto-immune diseases and lysosomal diseases. In total about 45 diseases, such as the diseases of Gaucher, Fabry en Pompe fall in this category. Molecular understanding is required to develop novel therapies for these disorders.

De researchers will use a combination of chemical analytical methods to study these enzyme facmilies in living cells in their TOP-PUNT project entitled "Exploring and exploiting activity-based protein profiling in chemical biology and medicinal chemistry".  

Focus area Chemiscal biology

De TOP-PUNT grant is given in the context of the support for the chemical focus areas in Dutch research and was awarded in the focus area of Chemical Biology