Publications of the Brenk lab

For reviewed contributions see below, for other contributions follow the link below.

2025

  • Hübenthal, A.; Panchal, V.; Brenk, R.; Mack, M. Functional Analysis of Thiamine Pyrophosphate-Responsive Riboswitches in Human Bacterial Pathogens of the ESKAPE Group Using a Dual-Luciferase Reporter Gene Assay. J Bacteriol 2025. [DOI] (external link)
  • Panchal, V.; Husmann, J.-Å.; Günther, K.; Zeeshan, M.; Haug, B. E.; Brenk, R. Discovery of RNA-Binding Fragments Using Biolayer Interferometry. RSC Medicinal Chemistry 2025. [DOI (external link)]

This paper has been included in the special collection "Celebrating the 5th Anniversary of RSC Medicinal Chemistry (external link)" to highlight key advances in medicinal chemistry and drug discovery research in the last 5 years, as well as current breakthroughs and future developments within the field.

TOC graphic Discovery of RNA-binding fragments using biolayer interferometry
Photo: Jan Husmann
  • Georgiou, C.; Espeland, L. O.; Bukya, H.; Yadrykhins’ky, V.; Haug, B. E.; Mainkar, P. S.; Brenk, R. Towards New Antibiotics: P. Aeruginosa FabF Ligands Discovered by Crystallographic Fragment Screening Followed by Hit Expansion. European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry 2025, 117563. [DOI (external link)].
TOC graphic Georgiou et al.
Photo: Ludvik Espeland

2024

  • Xia, Q.; Fu, Q.; Shen, C.; Brenk, R.; Huang, N. Assessing Small Molecule Conformational Sampling Methods in Molecular Docking. Journal of Computational Chemistry. [DOI (external link)].
  • Fahimeh Khorsand; Bengt  Erik Haug; Inari Kursula; Nathalie Reuter; Ruth Brenk. Expression and Purification of Human Neutrophil Proteinase 3 from Insect Cells and Characterization of Ligand Binding. PLoS ONE 2024, 19(6): e0294827. [DOI (external link)|bioRxiv] (external link).
  • Brenk, R.; Wu, P.; Duca, M. Introduction to the Themed Collection on ‘Targeting RNA with Small Molecules.’ RSC Med. Chem. 2024. [DOI (external link)]
  • Schuck, B.; Brenk, R. On the Hunt for Metalloenzyme Inhibitors: Investigating the Presence of Metal-Coordinating Compounds in Screening Libraries and Chemical Spaces. Archiv der Pharmazie, 2024, e2300648. [Pubmed (external link)|DOI (external link)|ChemRvix] (external link)
TOC graphic from Schuck et al.
Photo: Bruna Schuck
  • Gartan, P.; Khorsand, F.; Mizar, P.; Vahokovski, J. I.; Cervantes, L. F.; Haug, B. E.; Brenk, R.; Brooks, C. L. I.; Reuter, N. Investigating Polypharmacology through Targeting Known Human Neutrophil Elastase Inhibitors to Proteinase 3. J. Chem. Inf. Model. 2024. [Pubmed (external link)|DOI (external link)]
  • Jalencas, X.; Berg, H.; Espeland, L. O.; Sreeramulu, S.; Kinnen, F.; Richter, C.; Georgiou, C.; Yadrykhinsky, V.; Specker, E.; Jaudzems, K.; Miletić, T.; Harmel, R.; Gribbon, P.; Schwalbe, H.; Brenk, R.; Jirgensons, A.; Zaliani, A.; Mestres, J. Design, Quality and Validation of the EU-OPENSCREEN Fragment Library Poised to a High-Throughput Screening Collection. RSC Med. Chem. 2024. [DOI (external link)|PractialFragments (external link)].
TOC graphic Jalencas et al
Photo: Tanja Miletić

2023

  • Patil SS, Panchal V, Røstbø T,  Romanyuk S , Hollås H, Brenk R, Grindheim, AK , Vedeler A. RNA-binding is an ancient trait of the Annexin family. Front Cell Dev Biol. 2023, 15;11. [Pubmed (external link)]|[DOI (external link)]
  • Georgiou C, Espeland LO, Bukya H,Yadrykhinsky V, Haug BE, Mainkar P, Brenk R. New Starting Points for Antibiotics Targeting P. aeruginosa FabF Discovered by Crystallographic Fragment Screening Followed by Hit Expansion. ChemRxiv 2023. [DOI (external link)].

2022

  • Yadrykhins'ky V, Georgiou G, Brenk R. Crystal structure of Pseudomonas aeruginosa FabB C161A, a template for structure-based design for new antibiotics [version 2; peer review 2: approved]. F1000Research. 2022, 10(Chem Inf Sci):1102. [DOI (external link)]
  • Bothe S, Hänzelmann P, Böhler S, Kehrein J, Zehe M, Wiedemann C, Hellmich UA, Brenk R, Schindelin H, Sotriffer C. Fragment screening using biolayer interferometry reveals ligands targeting the SHP-motif binding site of the AAA+ ATPase p97. Commun Chem.  2022, 5, 169. [DOI (external link)]

2021

  • Panchal V, Brenk R. Riboswitches as Drug Targets for Antibiotics. Antibiotics. 2021; 10(1):45.[DOI (external link)] (Highlighted as Editor's choice article)
  • Espeland LO,  Georgiou C, Klein R, Bhukya H, Haug BE, Underhaug J, Mainkar PS, Brenk R. An Experimental Toolbox for Structure-Based Hit Discovery for P. aeruginosa FabF, a Promising Target for Antibiotics. ChemMedChem. 2021. [Pubmed (external link)]|[DOI (external link)]|[ChemRxiv (external link)]
TOC graphic Espeland et al.
Photo: Ludvik Espeland
TOC graphic Rekand elt al.
Photo: Illimar Rekand

2020

  • Klein R, Cendron L, Montanari M, Bellio P, Celenza G, Maso L, Tondi D, Brenk R. Targeting the Class A Carbapenemase GES-5 via Virtual Screening. Biomolecules. 2020 Feb 14;10(2). pii: E304.[Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]
  • Kersten C, Fleischer E, Kehrein J, Borek C, Jaenicke E, Sotriffer C, Brenk R. How To Design Selective Ligands for Highly Conserved Binding Sites: A Case Study Using N-Myristoyltransferases as a Model System. J Med Chem. 2020 Mar 12;63(5):2095-2113 [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]
TOC graphic Kersten et al.
Photo: Christian Kersten

2019

  • Irsheid L, Wehler T, Borek C, Kiefer W, Brenk R, Ortiz-Soto ME, Seibel J, Schirmeister T. Identification of a potential allosteric site of Golgi α-mannosidase II using computer-aided drug design. PLoS One. 2019 May 8;14(5):e0216132. [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]urlurl

2018

  • Klein R, Linciano P, Celenza G, Bellio P, Papaioannou S, Blazquez J, Cendron L, Brenk R, Tondi D. In silico identification and experimental validation of hits active against KPC-2 β-lactamase. PLoS One. 2018 Nov 29;13(11):e0203241. [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link) | bioRxiv (external link)]
  • Harrison JR, Brand S, Smith V, Robinson DA, Thompson S, Smith A, Davies K, Mok N, Torrie LS, Collie I, Hallyburton I, Norval S, Simeons FRC, Stojanovski L, Frearson JA, Brenk R, Wyatt PG, Gilbert IH, Read KD. A Molecular Hybridization Approach for the Design of Potent, Highly Selective, and Brain-Penetrant N-Myristoyltransferase Inhibitors. J Med Chem (2018), Sep 27;61(18):8374-8389. [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]

2017

  • Bayliss T, Robinson DA, Smith VC, Brand S, McElroy SP, Torrie LS, Mpamhanga C, Norval S, Stojanovski L, Brenk R, Frearson JA, Read KD, Gilbert IH, Wyatt PG. Design and Synthesis of Brain Penetrant Trypanocidal N-Myristoyltransferase Inhibitors. J Med Chem (2017), Dec 14;60(23):9790-9806. [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]
  • Rekand IH, Brenk R. Ligand design for riboswitches, an emerging target class for novel antibiotics. Future Med Chem. 2017 Sep;9(14):1649-1662. [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)| Post-Print-Version]
  • Wehler, T.; Brenk, R. Structure-Based Discovery of Small Molecules Binding to RNA. In RNA Therapeutics; Topics in Medicinal Chemistry; Springer, 2017; pp 47–77. [DOI (external link)]

2015

  • Baum B, Lecker LS, Zoltner M, Jaenicke E, Schnell R, Hunter WN, Brenk R. Structures of Pseudomonas aeruginosa beta-ketoacyl-(acyl-carrier-protein) synthase II (FabF) and a C164Q mutant provide templates for antibacterial drug discovery and identify a buried potassium ion and a ligand-binding site that is an artefact of the cry. Acta Crystallogr F Struct Biol Commun 71 (Pt 8), 1020-6 (2015). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]
  • Saeed ME, Kadioglu O, Seo EJ, Greten HJ, Brenk R, Efferth T. Quantitative structure-activity relationship and molecular docking of artemisinin derivatives to vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 1. Anticancer Res 35 (4), 1929-34 (2015). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]
  • Sarkar A, Brenk R. To Hit or Not to Hit, That Is the Question - Genome-wide Structure-Based Druggability Predictions for Pseudomonas aeruginosa Proteins. PLoS One 10 (9), e0137279 (2015). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]
  • Spinks D, Smith V, Thompson S, Robinson DA, Luksch T, Smith A, Torrie LS, McElroy S, Stojanovski L, Norval S, Collie IT, Hallyburton I, Rao B, Brand S, Brenk R, Frearson JA, Read KD, Wyatt PG, Gilbert IH. Development of Small-Molecule Trypanosoma brucei N-Myristoyltransferase Inhibitors: Discovery and Optimisation of a Novel Binding Mode. ChemMedChem 10 (11), 1821-36 (2015). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]
  • Zeino M, Brenk R, Gruber L, Zehl M, Urban E, Kopp B, Efferth T. Cytotoxicity of cardiotonic steroids in sensitive and multidrug-resistant leukemia cells and the link with Na/K-ATPase. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol 150, 97-111 (2015). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]

2014

2013

  • Alphey MS, Pirrie L, Torrie LS, Boulkeroua WA, Gardiner M, Sarkar A, Maringer M, Oehlmann W, Brenk R, Scherman MS, McNeil M, Rejzek M, Field RA, Singh M, Gray D, Westwood NJ, Naismith JH. Allosteric competitive inhibitors of the glucose-1-phosphate thymidylyltransferase (RmlA) from Pseudomonas aeruginosa. ACS Chem Biol 8 (2), 387-96 (2013). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]
  • Mok NY, Maxe S, Brenk R. Locating Sweet Spots for Screening Hits and Evaluating Pan-Assay Interference Filters from the Performance Analysis of Two Lead-like Libraries. J Chem Inf Model 53 (3), 534–44 (2013). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]
  • Moynie L, Leckie SM, McMahon SA, Duthie FG, Koehnke A, Taylor JW, Alphey MS, Brenk R, Smith AD, Naismith JH. Structural insights into the mechanism and inhibition of the beta-hydroxydecanoyl-acyl carrier protein dehydratase from Pseudomonas aeruginosa. J Mol Biol 425 (2), 365-77 (2013). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]
  • Urich R, Wishart G, Kiczun M, Richters A, Tidten-Luksch N, Rauh D, Sherborne B, Wyatt PG, Brenk R. De novo design of protein kinase inhibitors by in silico identification of hinge region-binding fragments. ACS Chem Biol 8 (5), 1044-52 (2013). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]
  • Woodland A, Grimaldi R, Luksch T, Cleghorn LA, Ojo KK, Van Voorhis WC, Brenk R, Frearson JA, Gilbert IH, Wyatt PG. From On-Target to Off-Target Activity: Identification and Optimisation of Trypanosoma brucei GSK3 Inhibitors and Their Characterisation as Anti-Trypanosoma brucei Drug Discovery Lead Molecules. ChemMedChem 8 (7), 1127-37 (2013). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]

2012

  • Brand S, Cleghorn LA, McElroy SP, Robinson DA, Smith VC, Hallyburton I, Harrison JR, Norcross NR, Spinks D, Bayliss T, Norval S, Stojanovski L, Torrie LS, Frearson JA, Brenk R, Fairlamb AH, Ferguson MA, Read KD, Wyatt PG, Gilbert IH. Discovery of a Novel Class of Orally Active Trypanocidal N-Myristoyltransferase Inhibitors. J Med Chem 55 (1), 88 (2012). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]
  • Brenk R, Rauh D. Change or be changed: Reflections of the workshop 'Future in Medicinal Chemistry'. Bioorg Med Chem 20 (12), 3695-7 (2012). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]
  • Tidten-Luksch N, Grimaldi R, Torrie LS, Frearson JA, Hunter WN, Brenk R. IspE Inhibitors Identified by a Combination of In Silico and In Vitro High-Throughput Screening. PLoS One 7 (4), e35792 (2012). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]

2011

  • Cappel D, Wahlstrom R, Brenk R, Sotriffer CA. Probing the Dynamic Nature of Water Molecules and Their Influences on Ligand Binding in a Model Binding Site. J Chem Inf Model 51 (10), 2581-94 (2011). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link) | PDB 2Y5A (external link)]
  • Cleghorn LA, Woodland A, Collie IT, Torrie LS, Norcross N, Luksch T, Mpamhanga C, Walker RG, Mottram JC, Brand S, Cleghorn LA, McElroy SP, Robinson DA, Smith VC, Hallyburton I, Harrison JR, Norcross NR, Spinks D, Bayliss T, Norval S, Stojanovski L, Torrie LS, Frearson JA, Brenk R, Fairlamb AH, Ferguson MA, Read KD, Wyatt PG, Gilbert IH. Discovery of a Novel Class of Orally Active Trypanocidal N-Myristoyltransferase Inhibitors. J Med Chem 55 (1), 88 (2012). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]
  • Brenk R, Rauh D. Change or be changed: Reflections of the workshop 'Future in Medicinal Chemistry'. Bioorg Med Chem 20 (12), 3695-7 (2012). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]
  • Tidten-Luksch N, Grimaldi R, Torrie LS, Frearson JA, Hunter WN, Brenk R. IspE Inhibitors Identified by a Combination of In Silico and In Vitro High-Throughput Screening. PLoS One 7 (4), e35792 (2012). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]Brenk R, Frearson JA, Gilbert IH, Wyatt PG. Identification of Inhibitors of the Leishmania cdc-Related Protein Kinase CRK3. ChemMedChem , (2011). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]
  • Daldrop P, Reyes FE, Robinson DA, Hammond CM, Lilley DM, Batey RT, Brenk R. Novel Ligands for a Purine Riboswitch Discovered by RNA-Ligand Docking. Chem Biol 18 (3), 324-35 (2011). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]
  • Krasowski A, Muthas D, Sarkar A, Schmitt S, Brenk R. DrugPred: A Structure-Based Approach To Predict Protein Druggability Developed Using an Extensive Nonredundant Data Set. J Chem Inf Model 51 (11), 2829-42 (2011). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]
  • Mok NY, Brenk R. Mining the ChEMBL Database: An Efficient Chemoinformatics Workflow for Assembling an Ion Channel-Focused Screening Library. J Chem Inf Model 51 (10), 2449-54 (2011). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]
  • Smith VC, Cleghorn LA, Woodland A, Spinks D, Hallyburton I, Collie IT, Yi Mok N, Norval S, Brenk R, Fairlamb AH, Frearson JA, Read KD, Gilbert IH, Wyatt PG. Optimisation of the Anti-Trypanosoma brucei Activity of the Opioid Agonist U50488. ChemMedChem 6 (10), 1832-40 (2011). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]
  • Spinks D, Ong HB, Mpamhanga CP, Shanks EJ, Robinson DA, Collie IT, Read KD, Frearson JA, Wyatt PG, Brenk R, Fairlamb AH, Gilbert IH. Design, Synthesis and Biological Evaluation of Novel Inhibitors of Trypanosoma brucei Pteridine Reductase 1. ChemMedChem 6 (2), 302-8 (2011). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]

2010

  • Bhat VT, Caniard AM, Luksch T, Brenk R, Campopiano DJ, Greaney MF. Nucleophilic catalysis of acylhydrazone equilibration for protein-directed dynamic covalent chemistry. Nat Chem 2 (6), 490-7 (2010). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]
  • Frearson JA, Brand S, McElroy SP, Cleghorn LA, Smid O, Stojanovski L, Price HP, Guther ML, Torrie LS, Robinson DA, Hallyburton I, Mpamhanga CP, Brannigan JA, Wilkinson AJ, Hodgkinson M, Hui R, Qiu W, Raimi OG, van Aalten DM, Brenk R, Gilbert IH, Read KD, Fairlamb AH, Ferguson MA, Smith DF, Wyatt PG. N-myristoyltransferase inhibitors as new leads to treat sleeping sickness. Nature 464 (7289), 728-32 (2010). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link) | F1000 recommended (external link)]
  • Ruda GF, Campbell G, Alibu VP, Barrett MP, Brenk R, Gilbert IH. Virtual fragment screening for novel inhibitors of 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase. Bioorg Med Chem 18 (14), 5056-62 (2010). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]

2009

2008

  • Brenk R, Schipani A, James D, Krasowski A, Gilbert IH, Frearson J, Wyatt PG. Lessons Learnt from Assembling Screening Libraries for Drug Discovery for Neglected Diseases. ChemMedChem 3 (3), 435-444 (2008). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]
  • Lucas-Lopez C, Allingham JS, Lebl T, Lawson CP, Brenk R, Sellers JR, Rayment I, Westwood NJ. The small molecule tool (S)-(-)-blebbistatin: novel insights of relevance to myosin inhibitor design. Org Biomol Chem 6 (12), 2076-84 (2008). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link) | Hot paper (external link)]

2007

2006

  • Brenk R, Klebe G. "Hot Spot" Analysis of Protein-binding Sites as a Prerequisite for Structure-based Virtual Screening and Lead Optimization. In Pharmacophores and Pharmacophore Searches (ed. Langer T, Hoffmann RD), pp. (Wiley, Weinheim, 2006). [Wiley (external link)]
  • Brenk R, Vetter SW, Boyce SE, Goodin DB, Shoichet BK. Probing molecular docking in a charged model binding site. J Mol Biol 357 (5), 1449-70 (2006). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]
  • Meyer EA, Donati N, Guillot M, Schweizer WB, Diederich F, Stengl B, Brenk R, Renter K, Klebe G. Synthesis, biological evaluation, and crystallographic studies of extended guanine-based (lin-benzoguanine) inhibitors for tRNA-Guanine transglycosylase (TGT). Helvetica Chimica Acta 89 (4), 573-97 (2006). [DOI (external link)]
  • Peifer C, Stoiber T, Unger E, Totzke F, Schachtele C, Marme D, Brenk R, Klebe G, Schollmeyer D, Dannhardt G. Design, synthesis, and biological evaluation of 3,4-diarylmaleimides as angiogenesis inhibitors. J Med Chem 49 (4), 1271-81 (2006). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]
  • Urbaniak MD, Tabudravu JN, Msaki A, Matera KM, Brenk R, Jaspars M, Ferguson MA. Identification of novel inhibitors of UDP-Glc 4'-epimerase, a validated drug target for african sleeping sickness. Bioorg Med Chem Lett 16 (22), 5744-7 (2006). [Pubmed (external link) | DOI (external link)]

2005

2004

2003

2002

 

Last updated: 14.11.2025