RSC Chemical Biology Blog

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.

Join the Keystone Symposia for Proximity-Based Therapeutics: Targeted Protein Degradation and Other Pharmacological Approaches from February 16-19, 2025, at the Eldorado Hotel & Spa in Santa Fe, NM. Organised by Dr Philip Chamberlain from Neomorph, and Dr Fleur M. Ferguson, from the University of California, San Diego, this symposium promises to unravel the latest advancements in targeted protein degradation (TPD) and chemically-induced proximity.

This symposium is a great event for researchers, clinicians, and industry leaders keen on translating cutting-edge discoveries into clinical applications. With sessions covering biochemistry, drug discovery, and digital bioengineering, attendees will delve into the clinical pharmacology of targeted protein degraders and explore new modalities that harness cellular processes for therapeutic benefit.

Engage with pioneers in the field through exclusive speaker sessions and a dedicated Career Roundtable. This unique opportunity allows trainees and early-career investigators to connect with leaders from academia and industry, offering invaluable career advice and networking prospects.

Join the Keystone Symposia Community
Stay updated with the latest conference news and announcements by subscribing to their newsletter. Be the first to know about program updates, speaker reveals, and exclusive offers.

Sign up for newsletters here.

Don’t miss out on this opportunity to shape the future of proximity-based therapeutics. Register now and secure your place among the leaders driving innovation in TPD and induced proximity.

Visit the official conference page for more details and to register.

RSC Chemical Biology and RSC Pharmaceutics are extending the submission deadline for the upcoming themed collection on ‘Endocytosis and Cellular Delivery‘.

The new deadline for submissions is 30 April 2025

Articles can be submitted to either of the two journals depending on the topic of the manuscript and how well it fits in to the journal’s scope. Authors who contribute their work to RSC Pharmaceutics will benefit from a full waiver of the article processing charges, so their work can be published and read at no cost.

Guest Edited by Prof. Alexander Kros (Leiden University), Prof. Vince Rotello (University of Massachusetts) and Prof. Georgina Such (University of Melbourne), this collection will explore how both biological and synthetic tools can be leveraged to understand the impact of material structure on the migration of specific cellular barriers, aiming to enhance the delivery efficiency of macromolecules and delivery systems such as liposomes, lipid nanoparticles, and polymeric carriers. Key topics will include the following:

1. Novel tools to understand and quantify cellular trafficking of nanoparticles and their cargo, including processes such as endosomal escape, membrane fusion, cytosolic delivery and nuclear localisation.
2. Fundamental understanding of how nanoparticle structure impacts cellular interactions.
3. Design of new delivery systems that incorporate intelligent strategies to migrate biological barriers for more effective therapeutic delivery.
4. Novel tools, methodologies to understand and quantify cell uptake and the fate of the multiple components in drug delivery systems.
5. Tools/basic understanding on the role of the protein corona on the fate of the particles beyond the very general basic level.

Articles can be submitted via the respective journal’s website, rsc.li/rsc-chembio or rsc.li/RSCPharma. Information on the journals’ scopes can be found at the bottom of this message. We would be grateful if, upon submission you would mention that your manuscript is intended for this themed collection.  Please note that all submissions are subject to the journal’s normal peer review processes, an initial assessment to confirm the manuscript’s suitability for full peer review.

Promotion of the collection is scheduled for  mid-2025, with articles published online as soon as they’re accepted.

About RSC Chemical Biology

Led by Hiroaki Suga (University of Tokyo), RSC Chemical Biology is dedicated to publishing and disseminating the most exceptionally significant, breakthrough findings of interest to the chemical biology community. All submissions are handled by our experienced and internationally recognised Associate Editors. For more information on the journal, please visit the journal homepage.

About RSC Pharmaceutics

RSC Pharmaceutics acknowledges how chemistry and related disciplines can make a big difference to addressing health challenges. The journal provides a platform to publish crucial research on pharmaceutics, covering emerging technologies and techniques in pharmaceutics, including drug delivery, precision medicine, and enhanced drug targeting. Publications in RSC Pharmaceutics have the potential to drive real change in worldwide health. For more information on the journal, please visit the journal homepage.

As gold open access journals, there are no barriers to accessing content and your research article will reach an international audience.

Article processing charges apply at RSC Chemical Biology – please see the journal web site for details on fees, discounts, and waivers. RSC Pharmaceutics is currently waiving article processing charges for all submissions.

“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 a new themed collection from RSC Chemical Biology has now been published online!

Read the collection

This themed collection is Guest Edited by Prof. John Spencer (University of Sussex, UK), Dr Gemma Nixon (University of Liverpool, UK), and Prof. Miraz Rahman (King’s College London, UK). It features contributions which investigate general medicinal chemistry, chemical probes for imaging, proteomics, PROTACs, fragment-based drug discovery, covalent binders, chemical tools for protein profiling and activity modulation, and natural product inspired medicinal chemistry and chemical biology.

A small selection of the articles has been provided below – please visit the link above for the full collection. All articles in RSC Chemical Biology are open access and free to read.

Editorial

Introduction to ‘Medicinal Chemistry Small Molecule Probes’
Gemma Nixon, Miraz Rahman and John Spencer
RSC. Chem. Biol., 2024, 5, DOI: 10.1039/D4CB90005G

Opinion

Chirality: a key parameter in chemical probes
Andrew McGown, Jordan Nafie, Mohammed Otayfah, Storm Hassell-Hart, Graham J. Tizzard, Simon J. Coles, Rebecca Banks, Graham P. Marsh, Hannah J. Maple, George E. Kostakis, Ilaria Proietti Silvestri, Paul Colbon and John Spencer
RSC. Chem. Biol., 2023, 4, 716–721, DOI: 10.1039/D3CB00082F

Reviews

PROTAC chemical probes for histone deacetylase enzymes
Urvashi Patel, Joshua P. Smalley and James T. Hodgkinson
RSC. Chem. Biol., 2023, 4, 623–634, DOI: 10.1039/D3CB00105A

Antitumour imidazotetrazines: past, present… and future?
Malcolm F. G. Stevens and Richard T. Wheelhouse
RSC. Chem. Biol., 2023, 4, 736–741, DOI: 10.1039/D3CB00076A

Papers and Communications

Virtual screening, identification and in vitro validation of small molecule GDP-mannose dehydrogenase inhibitors
Jonathan P. Dolan, Sanaz Ahmadipour, Alice J. C. Wahart, Aisling Ní Cheallaigh, Suat Sari, Chatchakorn Eurtivong, Marcelo A. Lima, Mark A. Skidmore, Konstantin P. Volcho, Jóhannes Reynisson, Robert A. Field and Gavin J. Miller
RSC. Chem. Biol., 2023, 4, 865–870, DOI: 10.1039/D3CB00126A

A cell-permeable probe for the labelling of a bacterial glycosyltransferase and virulence factor
Yong Xu and Gerd K. Wagner
RSC. Chem. Biol., 2024, 5, 55–62, DOI: 10.1039/D3CB00092C

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

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.