Welcome to the Mehellou lab at Cardiff University, UK.
We work on unravelling the roles of phosphates in cell signalling and drug discovery. To this end, we dive into cells to understand how protein kinases operate within complex signalling pathways. Such endeavour will allow us to identify opportunities for discovering new medicines for diseases with unmet medical needs.
Our research is highly interdisciplinary and involves techniques and skills that span Biochemistry, Protein Crystallography, Synthetic and Medicinal Chemistry.
LATEST PUBLICATIONS
Parkinson’s Disease: Are PINK1 Activators Inching Closer to the Clinic?
ACS Med Chem Lett
Aryloxy Pivaloyloxymethyl Prodrugs as Nucleoside Monophosphate Prodrugs
J Med Chem
PINK1-Dependent Mitophagy Inhibits Elevated Ubiquitin Phosphorylation Caused by Mitochondrial Damage
J Med Chem
RESEARCH
We design, synthesise and develop small molecules that manipulate protein kinases and phospho-mediated protein-protein interactions. Our current focus is on the WNK, PINK/Parkin, and JNK/STAT signalling pathways, which are implicated in many serious diseases such as Hypertension, Cancer, Parkinson's, and Autoimmune diseases.
Understanding how the activity of protein kinases is regulated in cells and how they operate within very complex signalling pathways is at the heart of our research. In particular, we are interested in understanding mitochondrial biochemistry especially PINK1/Parkin signalling and the regulation of ion homeostasis by WNK-SPAK-OSR1 signalling.