Welcome to the website of the « Chimie et Biochimie de Molécules Bioactives » group.

Team leader : Catherine Grosdemange-Billiard

Antimicrobial multi-drug resistance is one of the world’s most pressing public health problems. It is therefore urgent to find innovative targets for new antimicrobial drugs. Based on the team expertise of the methylerythritol phosphate (MEP) pathway for the biosynthesis of isoprenoids, which is present in many pathogenic bacteria, but absent in human, we develop new strategies for the design of novel and unexplored types of antibacterial and antiparasitic drugs, with minimal side effects expected for the patient.

The approaches are diverse and concern the synthesis of MEP pathway protein inhibitors as well as small molecules involved in the intra- and inter-species mechanisms of bacterial communication. The original feature of the CBMB lab lies in its interdisciplinary since the group includes both drug-design and organic synthesis but also the evaluation of biological activities in vivo (microorganism) and in vitro (target enzyme).

The laboratory has also expertise in the synthesis of small highly functionalized molecules as well as in the synthesis of molecules labelled with stable isotopes used for mechanistic studies.