Wenchao Lu

Team Leader

Lingang Laboratory

Short Biography

Dr. Wenchao Lu is currently a team leader at Lingang Laboratory. He completed his postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical School/Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Stanford University. His research primarily focuses on covalent inhibitors, the design and development of molecular glues, and the discovery of novel ligands of E3 ligases. The current research in Dr. Lu’s lab focuses on using interdisciplinary approaches to: 1) develop screening methodologies to explore the target landscape of molecular glue degraders, and 2) develop degradation-based drug candidates and chemical probes as tools for elucidating protein function in disease.

Presentation Topic: Development and Exploration of Next-Generation Targeted Protein Degraders
• Targeted Protein Degradation (TPD) is an emerging therapeutic strategy that enables the selective degradation of target proteins by inducing their interaction with E3 ubiquitin ligases. 
• Development of PROTAC molecules targeting the transcription factor TEAD, a key component of the Hippo signaling pathway and a challenging target for traditional inhibitors.
• Design and development of molecular glues as small-molecule tool compounds to interrogate and modulate traditionally "undruggable" targets.