Past Projects
Explore Our Past Projects
Our journey toward better lung cancer outcomes is built on a foundation of collaboration, discovery, and progress. Here, you’ll find a showcase of past projects from the Judith Tam ALK Lung Cancer Research Initiative—each one a testament to the dedication and innovation of our research community. These studies have shaped our current understanding and continue to inspire new directions in lung cancer research and care.
Identification of Novel ALK Inhibitors
- Our goal is to identify novel ligands and inhibitors of ALK as lead compounds for the development of new ALK-targeted therapies. To this end, we are pursuing two parallel approaches.
- In the first approach we are using various screening technologies to identify ligands for purified human ALK protein. These screens are designed to preferentially identify allosteric ligands, i.e. compounds that bind at sites outside the known ATP binding pocket. These ligands have the potential to act independently as inhibitors of ALK function. In addition, allosteric ALK ligands maybe incorporated into heterobifunctional PROTAC molecules for targeted ALK degradation.
- Our second approach to the identification of ALK inhibitors uses structure-based de novo design to identify entirely original ligand structures, which we then prepare and test for inhibition of ALK. We are employing two different design platforms to identity either allosteric or ATP site ligands. Through these combined efforts we expect to discover new compounds that inhibit ALK with the potential to overcome resistance to approved ALK-targeted drugs.
Objectives
- Objective 1: Identify allosteric ALK ligands by screening.
- Objective 2: Identify ALK ligands by de novo design.
Project Lead
Peter Toogood, PhD
Research Associate Professor and Director of Michigan Drug Discovery (MDD)
