Drug Development and Chemical Biology Lab
Principle Investigator
- Jens Pahnke, MD, PhD, EFN
PANABC Group Leaders
- Sven Marcel Stefan, PhD
- Hauke Busch, PhD (from 01.01.23)
- Vigneshwaran Namasivayam, PhD (til 31.12.22)
PETABC Group Leader
- Peter Brust, PhD
PostDocs
- Katja Stefan, PhD (Walter Benjamin Fellowship)
Former PostDocs
- Mirjam Brackhan, PhD, VMD (ABCLRP1 project)
- Mahmoud Rashed, PhD (PETABC project)
This years TransportDEMENTIA5 meeting will be helt in Tromsø, Norway.
For details check our congress site: www.pahnkelab.eu/td5/
Research agenda
The Drug Development and Chemical Biology lab focusses on neurodegenerative diseases (Alzheimer's, Huntington's and other) and treatment based on small-molecule drug development, rational drug design, the chemical biology of small-molecules, as well as the discovery of bioactive agents with advanced prediction models.
It is supported by a multidisciplinary and translational research environment covering in silico, in vitro, and in vivo techniques for potential drug candidate assessment.
In particular, the lab emphasizes:
- Structural and functional characterization of drug transporters of the ATP-binding cassette (ABC) and solute carrier (SLC) superfamilies
- Analysis of physiological and pathological roles of ABC and SLC transporters in neurodegenerative, malignant, and dermatological diseases
- Development of innovative computational models via data mining and machine learning/artificial intelligence approaches
- Hit-to-lead optimization via computational chemistry and organic synthesis as well as structure-activity relationships
- Advanced in vivo mouse models with humanized transporters, e.g., hABCA1, hABCA7, hABCB1, and hABCC1
Currently funded research projects
- DFG - Die Rolle der Blut-Hirn-Schranke in der Alzheimer Krankheit: Untersuchung der funktionellen Interaktion von LRP1 mit ABC Transporterproteinen (2015 - ) GEPRIS
- DFG - Design, Synthese und biologische Bewertung von ABC Transporter-Agonisten zur Entwicklung neuer Alzheimer Therapeutika (2020 - ) GEPRIS
- DFG - Etablierung neuer Detektionsmethoden zur Entdeckung und Entwicklung neuer ABCA1 und ABCA7 Modulatoren als Alzheimer Therapeutika und Diagnostika (2021 - ) GEPRIS
- DFG - Exploration von Pan-ABC-Transporter-Modulatoren durch innovative In Silico und In Vitro Methoden zur Generierung potentieller Zielstrukturen, Diagnostika und Therapeutika (2022 - ) GEPRIS
BMBF / EU / JPND - PETABC: PET analyses of ABC transporter function for diagnostics and stratification of dementia patients (2021- )
- for further information about all ongoing research projects refer to: www.pahnkelab.eu/funding
Collaboration partners
The Drug Development and Chemical Biology lab is integrative part of our translational research group at the University of Oslo / Oslo University Hospital. In vivo assessment of new compounds to detect treatment effects are performed in closed collaboration with the teams in Oslo and Riga.
Contact details
University of Lübeck, Lübeck Institute of Experimental Dermatology, Pahnke Lab, Ratzeburger Allee 160, 23562 Lübeck, Germany
Email: jens.pahnke (at) uksh.de
Recent Publications
see also www.pahnkelab.eu/publications
Bascuñana P, Brackhan M, Möhle L, Wu J, Brüning T, Eiriz I, Jansone B, Pahnke J. Time and sex dependent effects of fingolimod treatment in a mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease Biomolecules (2023) just accepted
Wu J, Möhle L, Brüning T, Eiriz I, Rafehi M, Stefan K, Stefan SM, and Pahnke J. A novel Huntington’s disease assessment platform to support future drug discovery and development. Int J of Molecular Sciences (2022) 23(23):14763.
Brackhan M, Calza, G, Lundgren K, Bascuñana P, Brüning T, Soliymani R, Kumar R, Abelein A, Baumann M, Lalowsk, M, PahnkeJ. Isotope-labeled amyloid-β does not transmit to the brain in a prion-like manner after peripheral administration. EMBO Rep 2022, e54405.
StefanSM, Jansson PJ, PahnkeJ, NamasivayamV. A curated binary pattern multitarget dataset of focused ATP-binding cassette transporter inhibitors. Sci Data 2022, 9(1) 446.
NamasivayamV, Stefan K, Silbermann K, PahnkeJ, Wiese M, Stefan,SM. Structural feature-driven pattern analysis for multitarget modulator landscapes. Bioinformatics 2022, 38 (5), 1385–1392.
NamasivayamV, Stefan K, PahnkeJ, StefanSM. Binding mode analysis of ABCA7 for the prediction of novel Alzheimer’s disease therapeutics. Comput Struct Biotechnol J 2021, 19, 6490–6504.
NamasivayamV, Silbermann K, Wiese M, PahnkeJ, StefanSM. C@PA: Computer-Aided Pattern Analysis to Predict Multitarget ABC Transporter Inhibitors. J Med Chem 2021, 64 (6) 3350–3366.
Bascuñana P, Brackhan M, PahnkeJ. Machine Learning-Supported Analyses Improve Quantitative Histological Assessments of Amyloid-β Deposits and Activated Microglia. J Alzheimers Dis 2021, 79 (2), 597–605