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The Competence Center for Drug Discovery (CC Drug Discovery) is dedicated to the discovery and development of new drugs for innovative therapies against serious diseases.

Translational drug discovery

The Competence Center for Drug Discovery at the ZHAW works on a national and international level with partners from industry and academia to develop new clinical drug candidates. Our mission is to address therapeutic issues in an interdisciplinary environment and to promote the synergy of biological, chemical and medical expertise. Our core competence in medicinal chemistry enables us to work with our partners on a range of indications (e.g. cancer, infectious diseases, metabolic diseases) for the benefit of patients.

2nd edition "Competencies in Drug Discovery"

The second edition of our symposium “Competencies in Drug Discovery”, brought together 160 international experts from industry and academia, providing both experienced scientists and young researchers with the opportunity for fruitful exchanges and discussions on the future of drug discovery.

LinkedIn-Post about the second symposium

Sponsors

1st edition "Competencies in Drug Discovery"

In June 2022, the first symposium “Competencies in Drug Discovery" took place at the ZHAW Wädenswil. During the symposium, projects from various therapeutic indications were discussed in an interdisciplinary environment to promote the synergy of biological, chemical and medical competencies.

LinkedIn-Post about the first symposium

Sponsors

Competencies

We cover the entire chemistry driven value chain of small molecule and peptide drug discovery:

Medicinal Chemistry
Organic Chemistry
Computer aided drug design
Natural Products
Parallel and automated organic synthesis
Microwave assisted organic synthesis
NMR binding studies of small molecules
Cheminformatics
Recombinant protein production in different expression systems
Protein characterization
Microbial and cellular test methods
Culture Collection of Switzerland (www.ccos.ch)

Projects

Selected publications

Antiprotozoal Structure–Activity Relationships of Synthetic Leucinostatin Derivatives and Elucidation of their Mode of Action / M. Brand, L. Wang, S. Agnello, S. Gazzola, F. M. Gall, L. Raguž, M. Kaiser, R. S. Schmidt, A. Ritschl, J. Jelk, A. Hemphill, P. Mäser, P. Bütikofer, M. Adams, R. Riedl, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 15613.
Drug Design Inspired by Nature: Crystallographic Detection of an Auto‐Tailored Protease Inhibitor Template / F. M. Gall, D. Hohl, D. Frasson, T. Wermelinger, P. R. E. Mittl, M. Sievers, R. Riedl, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, 58, 4051.
A Structural View on Medicinal Chemistry Strategies against Drug Resistance / S. Agnello, M. Brand, M. F. Chellat, S. Gazzola, R. Riedl, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, 58, 3300.
Pseudouridimycin: The First Nucleoside Analogue That Selectively Inhibits Bacterial RNA Polymerase / M. F. Chellat, R. Riedl, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 13184.
Targeting Antibiotic Resistance / Chellat, Mathieu; Raguž, Luka; Riedl, Rainer - Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55, 6600-6626; Angew.Chem. 2016, 128, 6710–6738.
Molecular recognition of the catalytic zinc (II) ion in MMP-13: Structure-based evolution of an allosteric inhibitor to dual binding mode inhibitors with improved lipophilic ligand efficiencies / Fischer, Thomas; Riedl, Rainer - invited article for the Special Issue "Enzyme-Inhibitor Interaction as Examples of Molecular Recognition" Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2016, 17, 314. Front cover story 3/2016.
Merging Allosteric and Active Site Binding Motifs: De novo Generation of Target Selectivity and Potency via Natural-Product-Derived Fragments / Lanz, Jan; Riedl, Rainer - ChemMedChem. 2015, 10, 451–454. Front cover story 3/2015.

Complete List of Publications

Lardos, Andreas; Patmore, Kristina; Allkin, Robert; Lazarou, Rebecca; Nesbitt, Mark; Scott, Andrew C.; Zipser, Barbara,

2023.

A systematic methodology to assess the identity of plants in historical texts : a case study based on the Byzantine pharmacy text John the Physician's Therapeutics.

Journal of Ethnopharmacology.

322(117622).

Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jep.2023.117622
Riedl, Rainer,

2023.

Development of small-molecule drugs for the treatment of leukemia.

Transfer.

2023(1), pp. 7.

Available from: https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-30047
Kalbermatter, David; Jeckelmann, Jean-Marc; Wyss, Marianne; Shrestha, Neeta; Pliatsika, Dimanthi; Riedl, Rainer; Lemmin, Thomas; Plattet, Philippe; Fotiadis, Dimitrios,

2023.

Structure and supramolecular organization of the canine distemper virus attachment glycoprotein.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.

120(6), pp. e2208866120.

Available from: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2208866120
Sabani, Besmira; Brand, Michael; Albert, Ina; Inderbitzin, Joelle; Eichenseher, Fritz; Schmelcher, Mathias; Rohrer, Jack; Riedl, Rainer; Lehmann, Steffi,

2023.

A novel surface functionalization platform to prime extracellular vesicles for targeted therapy and diagnostic imaging.

Nanomedicine: Nanotechnology, Biology and Medicine.

47(102607).

Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nano.2022.102607

Team