RSC Chemical Biology Blog

As we enter the last quarter of 2025, we are excited to share our latest updates with the RSC Chemical Biology community.

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Latest News

Our 2024 Outstanding Early Career Researcher Award goes to a team comprising Kilian Roßmann, Ramona Birke, Joshua Levitz, Ben Jones and Johannes Broichhagen, for their paper “Red and far-red cleavable fluorescent dyes for self-labelling enzyme protein tagging and interrogation of GPCR co-internalization”. Our congratulations to the winners! Find out more about the team and their paper at our blog post.

Research Spotlight

Peptidiscs offer a way to stabilise membrane proteins for mass photometry and cryo-EM in their native structure. In a recent article, Robinson, Bolla et al. have extended this to mass spectrometry, and share their insights on appropriate technique and the wide applicability of these stabilisers. Read “Native Mass spectrometry of membrane proteins reconstituted in peptidiscs” to find out more.

Onizuka, Nagatsugi et al. have devised new RNA-binding fluorogenic molecular probes for FID assays by combining thiazole orange derivatives with G-clamp, which were sensitive to hit compounds not found by the well-known indicator TO-PRO-1. Read their paper, “RNA-binding fluorogenic probes: G-clamp conjugated with a thiazole orange derivative for screening RNA-binding small molecules”, for more.

A new Review from Galenkap, van den Noort, and Maglia investigates the “Dynamics of single enzymes confined inside a nanopore”. Read the article to discover the promise of nanopore technology in studying single-molecule enzymology, the underlying principles, and the insights these techniques offer.

RSC Chemical Biology in the Community

We were proud to sponsor the second RSC CBIC (Chemistry Biology Interface Community) Early Career Researcher Leadership Retreat at Imperial College London, continuing our partnership with this new event. Anna Rulka, the journal’s Executive Editor, took part and presented an overview of publishing with the Royal Society of Chemistry and the support available to early career authors. Find out more about the meeting on our blog post, and in Imperial College London’s news article.

In October, Dr Rulka (centre) attended the joint ICBS & ECBS meeting ChemBioParis2025 to award poster and talk prizes sponsored by RSC Chemical Biology, meet our community, and learn from the state of the art scientific program. Our Associate Editor Zaneta Nikolovska-Coleska (second from right) also participated. Our congratulations to Hayoung Son (Seoul National University, Korea, third from left) on their Best Trainee Communications Prize, and Sebastian Hecko (TU Wien, Austria) and Yuko Hirata (University of Tokyo, Japan) on their best poster awards!

Dr Rulka was also pleased to attend the satellite 5th Young Investigator Workshop of the EuChemS Division of Chemical Biology and Chemistry in Life Sciences, at Institut Pasteur. RSC Chemical Biology proudly sponsor this event, which brings together early career researchers nominated by the EuChemS’ member National Chemical Societies.

The journal’s new Deputy Editor Alexander Whiteside (left) joined the EMBO “The epitranscriptome” workshop this October to build connections with this rapidly developing field and present prizes from RSC Chemical Biology and Molecular Omics to the authors of the best posters, Lea Pradel (EPFL, Switzerland) and Aniek Martens (Radboud University, Netherlands). Congratulations to the winners!

Collections

Our new themed collection on “Biomolecular Technologies”, Guest Edited by Prof. Sheel Dodani (The University of Texas at Dallas) and Prof. Ariel Furst (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), brings together engineered biomolecule-based technologies spanning small molecules, nucleic acids, and proteins, with applications in biocatalysis, biosensing, and synthetic biology. Read the completed collection here.

Do you have some exciting new research in nucleic acids or peptides? Consider our upcoming themed collections, currently open for submissions:

Our collection Chemical biology of nucleic acids: modifications, interactions, and therapeutic applications is open for submissions until 29 January 2026. Guest-Edited by Satoshi Obika (Osaka University), Hiroshi Abe (Nagoya University), and Michal Hocek (Czech Academy of Sciences), this collection invites research on the design and synthesis of nucleosides, nucleotides, and oligonucleotides, as well as evaluations of their biological activities both in vitro and in vivo. In addition, submissions focused on chemical biology research and drug discovery related to long DNA and RNA, and the development of new chemical biology techniques and analytical methods for nucleic acids, are also encouraged. Read the call for papers for information on how to contribute your work.

Rahul Jain (NIPER), Alex Deiters (University of Pittsburgh) Brett VanVeller (Iowa State University), and Krishna K. Sharma (Iowa State University) lead our collection on Peptide chemistry and biology: emerging technologies and translational applications. Developments in peptide modifications and new applications in PROTACs or as protein inhibitors underscore a bright future for peptide chemistry and biology. This themed collection showcases that progress, highlighting cutting-edge research from clinical and translational advances to innovative molecular designs, biological insights, and computational design approaches. Read the call for papers for information on the collection, and how to contribute your work by 29 January 2026.

Upcoming Events

Executive Editor Anna Rulka, and Associate Editor Zaneta Nikolovska-Coleska will be at this year’s Pacifichem symposium in Honolulu, Hawaii, on 15-20 December 2025. This year’s meeting includes sessions organised by our Editor-in-Chief Hiroaki Suga. We look forward to meeting you there!

We’re proud to sponsor a best poster award at the 29th Enzyme Mechanisms Conference in Carlsbad, CA, United States, January 4-8 2026.

RSC Chemical Biology is also pleased to support the 7th DNA Repair/Replication Structures & Cancer Conference in Playa Mujeres, Mexico, 1-6 February 2026.

Stay Connected

Follow us on LinkedIn and Bluesky for new articles and the latest news from RSC Chemical Biology and related journals at the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Early career researchers in chemical biology are not only shaping the future of their field, they are also redefining what scientific leadership looks like. This September, early career researchers (ECRs) gathered at Imperial College London for the second Chemistry Biology Interface Community (CBIC) Early Career Researcher Leadership Retreat, a three-day residential event designed to strengthen leadership skills, encourage collaboration, and build a supportive professional network.

Organised by CBIC Council members Anna Barnard, Gavin Miller and Andrew Truman, with local coordination support from Imperial’s Institute of Chemical Biology, the retreat brought together a diverse group of participants from across the UK and beyond. The event was sponsored by RSC Chemical Biology, and supported with a grant from the RSC’s Chemistry Biology Interface Community, with RSC staff joining throughout the programme to share resources and highlight opportunities available for ECRs across publishing, funding, and professional development.

Day 1: Research, publishing, and RSC support for early career researchers

The retreat opened with a warm welcome from the organisers and an introduction to the programme’s aims: to provide a dedicated space where early career researchers could reflect on their professional journeys and exchange ideas on leading research teams effectively.

The first morning included an invited talk from Professor Ed Tate (Imperial College London), who shared insights into advances in chemical biology and the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration. His talk set a motivating tone for the retreat.

A highlight of the opening day was a session of flash presentations, where each participant delivered a short overview of their research area. These rapid-fire talks helped participants learn about one another’s scientific interests, sparking discussions that continued throughout the event.

Later, the session focused on research and publishing, with the RSC Chemical Biology Executive Editor, Anna Rulka, presenting an overview of publishing with the Royal Society of Chemistry and the support available to early career authors. Delegates heard about opportunities to contribute to themed issues, editorials, and community-led features, as well as guidance on navigating the publication process.

These discussions sparked valuable conversations around scientific communication, authorship, and how ECRs can raise the visibility of their work.

Throughout the day, participants exchanged insights on research leadership, group management, and the evolving landscape of chemical biology research, setting the tone for an open, collaborative retreat.

Dr Anna Rulka’s presentation

Day 2: Leadership skills and industry insights

The second day centred on leadership and industry engagement, with sessions designed to help participants reflect on how they lead, communicate, and collaborate.

Elizabeth Adams from Scafell Coaching facilitated an interactive morning workshop exploring what effective leadership looks like in research environments. Drawing on her experience, she encouraged participants to consider the importance of positive team culture, clear communication, and wellbeing in academic settings.

Through group exercises, attendees developed team charters, discussed approaches to conflict management, and shared practical strategies for workload balance and mentoring students. The conversations highlighted that leadership in science goes beyond technical expertise, it’s also about fostering inclusion, trust, and collaboration.

Collaboration was a recurring theme throughout the day. Delegates explored how to find suitable research partners, set clear expectations, and ensure fair recognition using different frameworks. Reviewing each other’s online profiles also helped participants reflect on how to represent their work effectively to potential collaborators and employers.

In the afternoon, participants heard from Dr Nadia Luheshi of AstraZeneca, whose talk offered an inspiring view of career pathways in industry. With experience spanning immunology, mRNA research, and oncology, she spoke about her transition from academia to industry and shared insights into open innovation, target validation, and the future of cancer research.

Nadia’s talk also highlighted how AI, data science, and digital health are transforming research and diagnostics, reinforcing how chemical biologists can contribute to advancing sustainable, patient-centred innovation.

Dr Nadia Luheshi

Day 3: Research sharing and reflection

The final day of the retreat returned to a focus on research, with each participant delivering a “chalk talk”: a concise five-minute presentation showcasing new data, challenges, or ideas from their lab, followed by a short discussion.

These sessions were energetic and collaborative, reflecting the diversity of expertise represented in the room. Participants provided constructive feedback, discovered shared interests, and even identified potential collaborations to pursue after the retreat.

The CBIC Programme Manager joined the final session to share upcoming opportunities for ECRs, including an RSC Funding Workshop on establishing independent research careers. As the retreat drew to a close, many participants reflected on how the experience had strengthened their confidence, expanded their professional networks, and provided new tools for leadership.

Prof. Ed Tate at his plenary

Strengthening the early career chemical biology community

The CBIC Early Career Researcher Leadership Retreat aims to become a cornerstone event for the chemical biology community. Building on the success of the inaugural 2023 meeting in Newcastle, this second edition continued to provide a supportive and intellectually stimulating environment for emerging leaders in the field. The quality of the ECRs at the event indicates that the future is bright for chemical biology research in the UK.

By combining scientific discussion with leadership training and peer-to-peer learning, the retreat underscored the importance of nurturing the people who will shape the next generation of chemical biology research. Feedback from delegates highlighted the value of the programme’s mix of sessions, which balanced professional development with time for reflection and collaboration.

For the RSC, events like this are an important way to connect with early career researchers, listen to their experiences, and ensure that Royal Society of Chemistry continues to meet their evolving needs—from publishing support and career development resources to funding opportunities and community networks.

The RSC extends sincere thanks to the organisers, speakers, and participants for delivering another inspiring retreat. Their enthusiasm, openness, and collaborative spirit reflect the best of the chemical biology community.

Read more: RSC CBIC Leadership Retreat Empowers Next-Gen Chemical Biologists | Imperial News | Imperial College London

We are delighted to announce the recipients of the Outstanding Early Career Researcher Award 2024 from RSC Chemical Biology: a team comprising Kilian Roßmann, Ramona Birke, Joshua Levitz, Ben Jones and led by Johannes Broichhagen.

Their award-winning paper, “Red and far-red cleavable fluorescent dyes for self-labelling enzyme protein tagging and interrogation of GPCR co-internalization“, introduces a chemical toolset that enables new insight into receptor trafficking—specifically the complex internalization of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs), a key class of drug targets.

The team developed membrane-impermeable fluorescent probes for self-labelling protein tags (SNAP/Halo), which can be selectively removed from the cell surface using a mild reducing agent (MESNA). This innovation allows researchers to “strip away” uninternalized dye, revealing precise trafficking patterns and uncovering signalling crosstalk between receptors like GLP1R and GIPR.

Their approach spans from high-resolution imaging to high-throughput ligand screening, offering a powerful and versatile method for studying GPCR biology.

About the team:

• Johannes Broichhagen leads a chemical biology group at FMP Berlin, focusing on chromophore photophysics and optical control of cell-surface proteins.
• Kilian Roßmann, who completed his PhD in 2025, specializes in novel imaging techniques.
• Ramona Birke brings deep expertise in molecular cell physiology and mass spectrometry.
• Joshua Levitz, Associate Professor at Weill Cornell, works on optical tools for receptor neuroscience.
• Ben Jones, Clinician Scientist at Imperial College London, focuses on GPCR pharmacology in metabolic disease.

In their words:

“This honour means a great deal to us, highlighting the visibility and impact of our research approach and motivates us for our ongoing scientific work. We would like to extend our special thanks to the editorial and advisory boards of RSC Chemical Biology for recognizing the research results in our manuscript “Red and far-red cleavable fluorescent dyes for self-labelling enzyme protein tagging and interrogation of GPCR co-internalization”. We would like to highlight that this study has been an interdisciplinary collaboration across continents, which shows how important international support and cooperation are to yield maximal scientific success. In particular, Chemical biology is a fascinating field that combines interdisciplinary approaches and opens up new avenues of research, which RSC Chemical Biology covers extraordinarily. We are proud to be able to contribute to the further development of this exciting field, and this award encourages us to continue our journey with curiosity to tackle new questions, gaining unprecedented insights in the intricate world of receptor signalling.”

We are proud to celebrate this outstanding contribution to the field and look forward to what this team uncovers next!

🔗 Read the  winners’ paper here!

We’re pleased to inform you that this new themed collection from RSC Chemical Biology has now been published online.

Read the collection here

As both chemical and biological engineering approaches continue to expand, the landscape of biomolecular technologies is rapidly evolving, affording new opportunities from basic science to real-world applications. Guest Edited by Prof. Sheel Dodani (The University of Texas at Dallas; ORCID 0000-0003-0271-6080) and Prof. Ariel Furst (Massachusetts Institute of Technology; ORCID 0000-0001-9583-9703), this themed collection brings together engineered biomolecule-based technologies spanning small molecules, nucleic acids, and proteins, with applications in biocatalysis, biosensing, and synthetic biology. Each study showcases the modular and tunable nature of biomolecular design to tailor properties for function in both aqueous solutions and biological environments.

The articles in this collection are featured below. All articles in RSC Chemical Biology are open access and free to read.

Introduction to “Biomolecular Technologies”

Sheel C. Dodani and Ariel Furst

RSC Chem. Biol., 2025, DOI: 10.1039/D5CB90031J

A chemigenetic indicator based on a synthetic chelator and a green fluorescent protein for imaging of intracellular sodium ions

Shiori Takeuchi, Shosei Imai, Takuya Terai and Robert E. Campbell

RSC Chem. Biol., 2025, 6, 170–174 DOI: 10.1039/D4CB00256C

An expanded substrate scope for cross-chiral ligation enables efficient synthesis of long L-RNAs

Xuan Han and Jonathan T. Sczepanski

RSC Chem. Biol., 2025, 6, 209–217 DOI: 10.1039/D4CB00253A

Functionalization of a versatile fluorescent sensor for detecting protease activity and temporally gated opioid sensing

Jennifer Sescil, Hailey Fiel, Steven M. Havens, Emma Fu, Xingyu Li, Kayla E. Kroning, Isabel Solowiej, Peng Li and Wenjing Wang

RSC Chem. Biol., 2025, 6, 555–562 DOI: 10.1039/D4CB00276H

Regulating ferredoxin electron transfer using nanobody and antigen interactions

Albert Truong and Jonathan J. Silberg

RSC Chem. Biol., 2025, 6, 746–753 DOI: 10.1039/D4CB00257A

Real-time bioluminescence imaging of nitroreductase in breast cancer bone metastasis

Kang Lu, Mengxi Zhang, Zuotong Tian and Han Xiao

RSC Chem. Biol., 2025, 6, 754–760 DOI: 10.1039/D4CB00310A

We hope you enjoy this new themed collection from RSC Chemical Biology.

“I am thrilled to join the Advisory Board of RSC Chemical Biology and look forward to working with colleagues

to elevate the global impact of the field of chemical biology.”

We’re excited to announce that Dr Haian Fu has joined the RSC Chemical Biology journal as an Advisory Board Member.

Dr Fu is the Professor and Chair of Pharmacology & Chemical Biology at Emory University School of Medicine. He’s also the Associate Dean for Therapeutic Discovery and co-directs the Emory Centre for New Medicines. With his team, Dr Fu works on finding new ways to target important protein interactions to develop treatments for diseases.

Dr Fu’s research on 14-3-3 proteins, which help control many processes in our cells, has been ground-breaking. These insights have opened new opportunities for drug discovery. Dr Fu has also been very active in the chemical biology community, co-founding the International Chemical Biology Society and serving as its president.

We’re truly thrilled to have Dr Fu join the RSC Chemical Biology team, and we look forward to the valuable perspective he’ll bring to the journal.

Join us on Thursday, 12 September 2024 at:

• 15:00 – 16:15 China Standard Time
• 8:00 – 9:30 Greenwich Mean Time

Click here to
register for FREE

We are thrilled to announce the launch of the prestigious Outstanding Early Career Research Award, aimed at recognising and celebrating outstanding contributions to RSC Chemical Biology. This initiative seeks to honour the dedication, innovation, and impactful research of promising early career researchers.

Benjamí Oller-Salvia and his team are such remarkable individuals. In their paper, BrainBike peptidomimetic enables efficient transport of proteins across brain endothelium,  Prof Oller Salvia introduced BrainBikes, a novel family of bicyclic protease-resistant peptide shuttles designed to overcome the challenge of delivering protein therapeutics to the brain.

Protein therapeutics face a challenge in reaching the brain due to their low permeability across the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Despite previous attempts with brain shuttle peptides to enhance BBB transport of some therapeutics, effectively transporting protein cargoes remains difficult. In this study, the researchers introduce BrainBikes, a new family of bicyclic protease-resistant peptide shuttles capable of increasing transport of proteins, including antibody derivatives.

Using a trifunctional chemical linker, several bicyclic analogues are generated from a linear peptide targeting the transferrin receptor (TfR1). These analogues show increased metabolic resistance, with one variant, BrainBike-4 (BB4), demonstrating a high affinity for cells with high levels of TfR1. Initially, the researchers demonstrated that BB4 can enhance the transport of a model fluorescent protein by fourfold. Subsequently, BB4 is site-specifically conjugated to a single chain variable antibody fragment (scFv) using a chemoenzymatic approach. Conjugation of BB4 leads to a fivefold increase in the transport of the scFv in a human cell-based model of the BBB.

These results highlight the potential of bicyclic peptidomimetics as brain shuttles and present new opportunities for the transport of biotherapeutics across the BBB.

Meet the team

• Maria Lucana pursued her undergraduate studies in Chemistry at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Currently, she serves as a predoctoral researcher in Bioengineering at IQS – Ramon Llull University. Within the ChemSynBio group, Maria focuses on the development of shuttle peptides and nanocarriers aimed at enhancing therapeutic transport across the blood-brain barrier.
• Roberta Lucchi‘s academic journey began with Biotechnology studies at “La Sapienza” University in Rome. Following an enriching one-year internship at Nippon Kayaku Co. Ltd in Tokyo, funded by the “Vulcanus in Japan” program, she joined Dr Benjamí Oller-Salvia’s laboratory at IQS – Ramon Llull University. Here, she completed her PhD, focusing on the development of stimuli-responsive biotherapeutics, generously supported by an FPU scholarship from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities.
• Fabien Gosselet, a distinguished figure in academia, holds the position of full professor at Université d’Artois. He received his PhD training at the Gustave Roussy Institute (IGR) and conducted postdoctoral research at the Blood-brain Barrier (BBB) laboratory (LBHE) in Lens. Since 2015, he has led the BBB Laboratory, delving into crucial areas such as the role of diet in amyloid clearance, relationships between cholesterol, BBB, and Alzheimer’s disease (AD), as well as exploring vectors for crossing the BBB.
• Cristina Díaz-Perlas brings a wealth of experience to the ChemSynBio group at IQS – Ramon Llull University as a Marie Curie postdoctoral researcher. Her academic journey includes PhD studies conducted in Prof. Ernest Giralt’s laboratory at IRB Barcelona, followed by postdoctoral research at EPFL in Switzerland under the guidance of Prof. Christian Heinis. In her current role, Cristina leads the research line on peptide and antibody phage display development, actively contributing to the discovery of efficient transport systems across the blood-brain barrier.
• Benjamí Oller-Salvia is an associate professor at IQS – Ramon Llull University. He completed his PhD in Prof. Ernest Giralt’s laboratory at IRB Barcelona, followed by postdoctoral research with Prof Jason Chin at the MRC LMB in Cambridge. Leading the ChemSynBio group at IQS, Benjamí combines chemical and synthetic biology to explore transport mechanisms across the blood-brain barrier. His research aims to generate smart biotherapeutics targeting brain diseases, generously supported by funding from the European Research Council.

About being awarded by the Editorial Board of RSC Chemical Biology, the winners commented: “We are immensely honoured and proud to receive this award. This prize is a recognition of the hard work and dedication of a wonderful research team that was the seed of the ChemSynBio group at IQS in Barcelona. This award motivates us to continue pushing the boundaries of the challenging field of brain delivery.”

As they continue to push the boundaries of scientific innovation, the possibilities for treating neurological disorders grow ever brighter. With each discovery, they edge closer to realizing their vision of a future where no disease is beyond the reach of effective treatment.

Join us on LinkedIn to celebrate Prof Oller-Salvia and the team!

We’re pleased to announce that the second annual RSC Chemical Biology Emerging Investigators collection has now been published online!

READ THE COLLECTION 

This collection highlights the work of outstanding early career researchers from across the chemical biology community. We’ve provided links to just a few of these articles and the summary Profile below – be sure to visit the collection to read the rest!. All articles in RSC Chemical Biology are open access and free to read.

If you would like to nominate a colleague or yourself as an Emerging Investigator for our next collection, please contact us for further details. Emerging Investigators must be group leaders or principal investigators in the first 10 years of their independent career.

Profile

Contributors to the 2023 RSC Chemical Biology Emerging Investigators Collection

RSC. Chem. Biol., 2024, DOI: 10.1039/D4CB90013H

Communications

Biosynthesis of the fungal nonribosomal peptide penilumamide A and biochemical characterization of a pterin-specific adenylation domain

Stephanie C. Heard, Katharine L. Diehl and Jaclyn M. Winter

RSC. Chem. Biol., 2023, 4, 748–753, DOI: 10.1039/D3CB00088E

BrainBike peptidomimetic enables efficient transport of proteins across brain endothelium

Maria C. Lucana, Roberta Lucchi, Fabien Gosselet, Cristina Díaz-Perlas and Benjamí Oller-Salvia

RSC Chem. Biol., 2024, 5, 7–11, DOI: 10.1039/D3CB00194F

Papers 

Methylated guanosine and uridine modifications in S. cerevisiae mRNAs modulate translation elongation

Joshua D. Jones, Monika K. Franco, Tyler J. Smith, Laura R. Snyder, Anna G. Anders, Brandon T. Ruotolo, Robert T. Kennedy and Kristin S. Koutmou

RSC. Chem. Biol., 2023, 4, 363–378, DOI: 10.1039/D2CB00229A

Click’n lock: rapid exchange between unsymmetric tetrazines and thiols for reversible, chemoselective functionalisation of biomolecules with on-demand bioorthogonal locking

Katerina Gavriel, Dustin C. A. van Doeselaar, Daniëlle W. T. Geers and Kevin Neumann

RSC. Chem. Biol., 2023, 4, 685–691, DOI: 10.1039/D3CB00062A

In addition to the researchers highlighted in our Profile article above, we’re pleased to feature this further contribution from Prof. Denise Okafor.

Denise Okafor is an assistant professor in the Departments of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB) and Chemistry at Pennsylvania State University. She received a B.S. in Biomedical chemistry from Oral Roberts University, followed by M.S. and Ph.D degrees in Chemistry from the Georgia Institute of Technology. As an NIH-IRACDA postdoctoral fellow at Emory University School of Medicine, she used molecular dynamics simulations to study ligand regulation and functional evolution in nuclear receptors. She began her independent career in 2020. Her lab combines MD simulations with biochemical experiments to understand mechanisms of transcriptional activation in nuclear receptors.

Read Prof. Okafor’s contribution below:

Ancient and modern mechanisms compete in progesterone receptor activation

RSC. Chem. Biol., 2024, 5,  DOI: 10.1039/D4CB00002A

We’re pleased to announce that a new themed collection from RSC Chemical Biology has now been published online.

Read the collection here

This themed collection, guest edited by Ralph Kleiner (Princeton University, USA), Claudia Höbartner (University of Würzburg, Germany) and Guifang Jia (Peking University, China), presents articles in the field of epitranscriptomics, delving into the exploration of non-canonical ribonucleotides in biology. Taken together, we hope that readers will find this small sampling of epitranscriptomic research, showcasing recent directions in the field, to be a stimulating and thought-provoking entry point for further reading and study.

The article line-up is shared below. We’re pleased to also feature a selection of epitranscriptomics articles published in RSC Chemical Biology before and after the collection was organised. All articles in RSC Chemical Biology are open access and free to read.

Editorial

Introduction to ‘The Epitranscriptome’

Ralph Kleiner, Claudia Höbartner and Guifang Jia

RSC. Chem. Biol., 2024, 5, DOI: 10.1039/D4CB90006E

Papers

Nucleoside analogs in ADAR guide strands targeting 5′-UA̲ sites

Hannah F. Brinkman, Victorio Jauregui Matos, Herra G. Mendoza, Erin E. Doherty and Peter A. Beal

RSC. Chem. Biol., 2023, 4, 74–83, DOI: 10.1039/D2CB00165A

Arabidopsis thaliana NudiXes have RNA-decapping activity

Maria-Bianca Mititelu, Oldřich Hudeček, Agnieszka Gozdek, Roberto Benoni, Ondřej Nešuta, Szymon Krasnodębski, Joanna Kufel and Hana Cahová

RSC. Chem. Biol., 2023, 4, 223–228, DOI: 10.1039/D2CB00213B

Temporal resolution of NAIL-MS of tRNA, rRNA and Poly-A RNA is overcome by actinomycin D

Authors

RSC. Chem. Biol., 2023, 4, 354–362, DOI: 10.1039/D2CB00243D

Advantages and challenges associated with bisulfite-assisted nanopore direct RNA sequencing for modifications

Aaron M. Fleming, Judy Zhu, Vilhelmina K. Done and Cynthia J. Burrows

RSC. Chem. Biol., 2023, 4, 952–964, DOI: 10.1039/D3CB00081H

Additional Papers

Methylated guanosine and uridine modifications in S. cerevisiae mRNAs modulate translation elongation

Joshua D. Jones, Monika K. Franco, Tyler J. Smith, Laura R. Snyder, Anna G. Anders, Brandon T. Ruotolo, Robert T. Kennedy and Kristin S. Koutmou

RSC. Chem. Biol., 2023, 4, 363–378, DOI:10.1039/D2CB00229A

N⁴-Allylcytidine: a new nucleoside analogue for RNA labelling and chemical sequencing

Tengwei Li, Xiao Shu, Minsong Gao, Chenyang Huang, Ting Li, Jie Cao, Xiner Ying, Donghong Liu and Jianzhao Liu

RSC. Chem. Biol., 2024, 5, DOI: 10.1039/D3CB00189J

Reversible oxidative dimerization of 4-thiouridines in tRNA isolates

Larissa Bessler, Jonathan Groß, Christopher J. Kampf, Till Opatz and Mark Helm

RSC. Chem. Biol., 2024, 5, DOI: 10.1039/D3CB00221G

We hope you enjoy this new themed collection from RSC Chemical Biology.

We’re pleased to announce that a new themed collection from RSC Chemical Biology has now been published online.

READ THE COLLECTION 

This themed collection, guest edited by Michelle Arkin (University of California San Francisco, USA), Luc Brunsveld (TU Eindhoven, Netherlands), and Eric Fischer (Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School, USA), encompasses the wide scope of molecular glues. Topics include protein degradation glues, protein binders and stabilizers, bi-functional molecules for protein degradation and beyond with a particular interest on molecular recognition.

The articles in this collection are listed below. All articles in RSC Chemical Biology are open access and free to read.

REVIEWS

Protein–protein interfaces in molecular glue-induced ternary complexes: classification, characterization, and prediction

Huan Rui, Kate S. Ashton, Jaeki Min, Connie Wang and Patrick Ryan Potts

RSC. Chem. Biol., 2023, 4, 192–215, DOI: 10.1039/D2CB00207H

Bringing enzymes to the proximity party

Gabrielle S. Tender and Carolyn R. Bertozzi

RSC. Chem. Biol., 2023, 4, 986–1002, DOI: 10.1039/D3CB00084B

PAPERS 

Accessing three-branched high-affinity cereblon ligands for molecular glue and protein degrader design

Robert Kuchta, Christopher Heim, Alexander Herrmann, Samuel Maiwald, Yuen Lam Dora Ng, Izidor Sosič, Tim Keuler, Jan Krönke, Michael Gütschow, Marcus D. Hartmann and Christian Steinebach

RSC. Chem. Biol., 2023, 4, 229–234, DOI: 10.1039/D2CB00223J

Straightforward model construction and analysis of multicomponent biomolecular systems in equilibrium

Nick H. J. Geertjens, Pim J. de Vink, Tim Wezeman, Albert J. Markvoort and Luc Brunsveld

RSC. Chem. Biol., 2023, 4, 252–260, DOI: 10.1039/D2CB00211F

A model-informed method to retrieve intrinsic from apparent cooperativity and project cellular target occupancy for ternary complex-forming compounds

Richard R. Stein, Marianne Fouché, Jeffrey D. Kearns and Hans-Joerg Roth

RSC. Chem. Biol., 2023, 4, 512–523, DOI: 10.1039/D2CB00216G

Bind&Bite: covalently stabilized heterodimeric coiled-coil peptides for the site-selective, cysteine-free chemical modification of proteins

Jannis Beutel, Pierre Tannig, Riccardo Di Vincenzo, Thomas Schumacher, Klaus Überla and Jutta Eichler

RSC. Chem. Biol., 2023, 4, 794–803, DOI: 10.1039/D3CB00122A

We hope you enjoy this new themed collection from RSC Chemical Biology.