IBMB SEMINAR, Friday, December 13th 14:30 PM | Cristina Mayor-Ruiz

Date: Friday, December 13th | Felix Serratosa room | 13|12|2024

Time: 14:30 PM

Speaker: Cristina Mayor-Ruiz
IRB Barcelona

Title: “Targeted protein degradation: unlocking drug discoveries and enabling in vivo studies“

Seminar Room: Fèlix Serratosa

Host Researcher: Ulrich Eckhard

Brief Research Summary

Cristina Mayor-Ruiz’s research focuses on expanding the boundaries of drug discovery by leveraging targeted protein degradation (TPD), a revolutionary technology that addresses the limitations of traditional drug development. Unlike classical inhibitors that target only proteins with accessible pockets, TPD employs small molecules called “degraders” to induce the selective destruction of proteins, including previously undruggable targets. Her work encompasses the development of innovative screening strategies to identify molecular glues, PROTACs, and destabilizers—distinct classes of degraders with diverse mechanisms of action. She also explores novel applications of TPD, such as expanding the technology’s toolbox and discovering new ways to modulate protein-E3 ligase interactions. Additionally, her lab investigates fundamental questions in molecular biology, including the dysregulation of E3 ligases in diseases like cancer, oncoprotein degradation profiling, and the interplay between TPD and the immune system. Her efforts aim to unlock the full potential of TPD as a transformative paradigm in therapeutic drug development.

Biosketch

Cristina Mayor-Ruiz earned her PhD in 2017 (CNIO, Madrid), researching mechanisms of chemotherapy resistance. She received two prestigious postdoctoral fellowships (EMBO and Marie Curie) to train in chemical biology and protein degradation at CeMM in Vienna (2018–2020). In 2021, she established her current laboratory at the IRB in Barcelona, focused on studying targeted protein degradation and the development of degrader drugs, a highly promising new field in pharmacology. She has received significant accolades (Ramón y Cajal, Junior Group Leader of La Caixa, Life Science Research Award Austria 2020, etc.) as well as competitive national and international funding, including the FERO-ASEICA Grant, the AECC Lab Grant, and, an ERC Starting Grant.