Research and Development: Applications

The project aims to develop new inhibitors targeting the telomeric proteins TRF1 and TRF2, which are seen as promising targets in cancer treatment. These proteins play a key role in protecting DNA ends, affecting cell cycle and proliferation. Our goal is to disrupt their interaction with the TIN2 protein, a strategy that could differ in its effects on cancer versus normal cells. Building on our previous work, where we identified two promising compounds, we now plan to design and test derivatives of these compounds to find new TRF1/2-TIN2 interaction inhibitors. The project will follow a medicinal chemistry pipeline, starting with in silico analysis of over 10,000 structures, narrowing down to about 100 for more detailed modeling, and employing fragment-based design strategies to select candidates for synthesis.