Center for Integrative Chemical Biology and Drug Discovery

A leading academic center focused on translating UNC biomedical science into the discovery of small molecule medicines and chemical research tools.

The Center’s mission is to bring dedicated medicinal chemistry expertise to bear on biological targets of therapeutic relevance under investigation by UNC faculty. Synthetic chemists, assay development and compound profiling scientists work in the Center and create dedicated, multidisciplinary project teams with other groups on campus to progress targets through the drug discovery and early development process. The first targeted therapeutic from the Center designed to reactivate the innate immune response in cancer and block survival signaling pathways in many solid and hematologic malignancies is advancing through clinical trials. In addition to collaborative drug discovery projects, the Center has a basic science focus in the area of chromatin regulation. The Center’s chromatin science is centered on methyl-lysine as a posttranslational modification and the protein-protein interactions that it facilitates. The first chemical probes for methyl-lysine reader proteins were discovered in the CICBDD and are being used to validate novel interventions in cancer and other diseases.