Team "Chemical Biology and Pharmacognosy for Health"
Dominique Bonnet
Dominique Bonnet
email: dbonnet[at]unistra.fr
Our team aims to discover original molecules to better understand living systems and to modulate them for cognitive and therapeutic applications. We focus in particular on G protein–coupled receptors (GPCRs) and their signaling pathways. Our research is organized around three main thematic areas:
Theme 1: Molecular Diversity - We expand chemical and pharmacophoric space through the development of new synthetic routes and the targeted extraction of natural products.
Theme 2: Chemical Biology - We design original molecular probes (agonists, antagonists, allosteric modulators, fluorescent ligands, radioligands) to investigate biological mechanisms.
Theme 3: Therapeutic Innovation - Our work addresses inflammation and pain, cardiovascular diseases, autism, and infectious diseases. We develop chemokine neutraligands, stabilized peptide ligands, and small molecules targeting GPCRs. These approaches have led to the discovery of novel modulators of pain and inflammation, ligands of the apelin receptor for cardiovascular disorders, non-peptidic modulators of vasopressin and oxytocin receptors restoring social behavior in mouse models, and new anti-parasitic, antibacterial, and antifungal compounds.
Techniques: Solution and solid-phase synthesis ; Heterocyclic chemistry ; Peptide chemistry ; Synthesis and characterization of fluorescent probes ; Analytical and purification technics by HPLC ; NMR.
LIT Website of Team "Chemical Biology and Pharmacognosy for Health"
Team "Chemogenomic and Medicinal Chemistry"
Frédéric Bihel
Frédéric Bihel
email: fbihel[at]unistra.fr
The team specializes in the design and synthesis of pharmacological and therapeutic molecules for chronic pain treatment. Our approach integrates medicinal chemistry strategies—starting from ligand-based or high-throughput screening hits—and applies optimization to refine activity, pharmacokinetic properties, safety, and selectivity. The team has a strong expertise in the field of GPCR, but has also developed an expertise in PROTAC strategy for intracellular targets. With deep expertise in organic chemistry, including peptide and peptidomimetic synthesis as well as heterocyclic chemistry, our goal is to develop patentable preclinical candidates.
Research areas: Organic & Medicinal Chemistry ; GPCRs ; Chronic Pain.
Techniques: Organic synthesis ; Peptide/peptidomimetic chemistry.
LIT Website of Team "Chemogenomics and Medicinal Chemistry"