Alice Wicks

Excited to share our new paper uncovering how FANCD2 recognises various DNA repair proteins www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... @hw1o9.bsky.social

It is possible that previously untapped E3s could offer distinct structural plasticity and cooperativity that favour productive ubiquitination, as we show in this paper. It is therefore important to study more E3 ligases, which motivated me to move to @fletcherlab.bsky.social ☺️

Our story was possible due to successful collaboration between @cancerresearchuk.org and AstraZeneca, allowing us to get the best of both worlds from academia and industry. I would like to thank my co-authors and the scientists I worked with during the project; it was a real privilege.

eIF4E is a key translation regulator and considered a challenging cancer target. Using multidisciplinary approaches, the study demonstrates that the PROTAC engages both CBL and eIF4E and promotes eIF4E degradation via lysosomal and proteasomal pathways, thereby disrupting translation.

The range of E3 ligases exploited in proteolysis-targeting chimeras (PROTACs) remains limited by the lack of available E3 ligands. Building on a CBL E3-binding peptide developed by the Huang Lab, we investigated whether a CBL-recruiting peptide PROTAC could induce eIF4E degradation.

CBL ubiquitin ligase targets translation as a degrader E3 Proteolysis Targeting Chimeras (PROTACs) are heterobifunctional molecules that recruit an ubiquitin ligase (E3) and a neo-substrate into a ternary complex, enabling selective protein degradation. Desp...

My first-author paper is out in @chemicalscience.rsc.org from my time in Professor Danny Huang’s laboratory @cruk-si.bsky.social. We showed that CBL can be used as a degrader E3 to target the “undruggable” eIF4E.
pubs.rsc.org/en/content/a...

Join us for the #Ubiquitin & Friends Symposium 2026, April 29-30, in Vienna!
Fantastic guest speakers👇 & many slots for talks from abstracts, flash-talks & posters. Lots of opportunities to network. Register now to save your spot!
➡️ www.protein-degradation.org/symposium/
#ubfriends2026

Thanks, Adam! It is a real pleasure to join your team.