Contact information
ChemBioHub - Huber Lab Website
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1103-5300
NDM Research Building
Websites
- Huber Lab TDI Website
- Huber Lab CMD Website
- Podcast: Targeting Drug Discovery
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WIRED Feature
Learn more about our approach to open access drug discovery and scientific crowdsourcing
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Discovering Druggable Targets
Interview with Technology Networks
Kilian Huber
Associate Professor
- Senior Group Leader Chemical Biology & Chemical Probes
Chemical Biology - Drug Discovery - Proteomics - Systems Pharmacology - Medicinal Chemistry
Probing Biology with Small Molecules for Drug Target Discovery
Our group uses chemical biology to uncover new principles of cellular regulation and identify points of intervention for future medicines. By designing small molecules that probe biological systems, we can reveal hidden mechanisms - and ultimately, develop strategies to restore cellular balance in disease.
Chemical biology bridges chemistry and biology to create “chemical probes” that explore how proteins work and assess their potential as drug targets. Candidate targets may emerge from genetic studies linking specific genes to disease, from genome-editing or RNA-interference screens, from phenotypic compound screens, or from existing medicines with unexplained mechanisms.
To identify, explore, and validate new targets, the Huber Laboratory integrates a wide range of discovery approaches - including small-molecule and phenotypic screening, biochemical and structural biology, protein–protein interaction and chemical proteomics, medicinal chemistry, and genetic perturbation methods such as RNAi and CRISPR-based editing.
By combining these complementary techniques, we aim to generate high-quality chemical probes that illuminate fundamental biology and provide starting points for drug discovery.
Recent publications
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Bisphosphonates Trigger Anti-Ageing Effects Across Multiple Cell Types and Protect Against Senescence
Preprint
Lu J. et al, (2025)
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Drug repurposing in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
Journal article
Carroll E. et al, (2025), Expert Opinion on Drug Discovery, 1 - 18
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Pharmacological targeting of BMAL1 modulates circadian and immune pathways.
Journal article
Pu H. et al, (2025), Nature chemical biology
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Toward target 2035: EUbOPEN - a public–private partnership to enable & unlock biology in the open
Journal article
Tredup C. et al, (2025), RSC Medicinal Chemistry
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Phenomics-based Discovery of Novel Orthosteric Choline Kinase Inhibitors.
Journal article
Bauer LG. et al, (2024), Angewandte Chemie (International ed. in English)