Chemical Proteomics × Functional Genomics

Chemical biology for the underexplored proteome

The Liu Lab integrates synthetic chemistry, chemical proteomics, and functional genomics to discover therapeutic targets and small-molecule drugs.

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Research

From proteome-wide engagement to actionable biology

01

Chemical Proteomics

Map ligandable sites and discover chemical probes in native biological systems.

02

Functional Genomics

Use genetic perturbations to identify targets, resistance pathways, and dependencies.

03

Protein Modulation

Define how ligands alter protein activity, stability, complexes, and signaling.

Research overview

Selected publications

Research at the chemistry–biology interface

2025

An Allosteric Cyclin E–CDK2 Site Mapped by Paralog Hopping with Covalent Probes

Zhang, Y.; Liu, Z.; Hirschi, M.; Brodsky, O.; Johnson, E.; Won, S. J.; Nagata, A.; Petroski, M. D.; Majmudar, J. D.; Niessen, S.; VanArsdale, T.; Gilbert, A. M.; Hayward, M. M.; Stewart, A. E.; Nager, A. R.; Melillo, B.; Cravatt, B. F.

Nature Chemical Biology, 21, 420–431

DOI PubMed Details

2024

Coordinated Inheritance of Extrachromosomal DNAs in Cancer Cells

Hung, K. L.; Jones, M. G.; Wong, I. T. L.; Curtis, E. J.; Lange, J. T.; He, B. J.; Luebeck, J.; Schmargon, R.; Scanu, E.; Brückner, L.; Yan, X.; Li, R.; Gnanasekar, A.; González, R. C.; Belk, J. A.; Liu, Z.; Melillo, B.; Bafna, V.; Dörr, J. R.; Werner, B.; Huang, W.; Cravatt, B. F.; Henssen, A. G.; Mischel, P. S.; Chang, H. Y.

Nature, 635, 201–209

DOI PubMed Details

2024

Proteomic Ligandability Maps of Spirocycle Acrylamide Stereoprobes Identify Covalent ERCC3 Degraders

Liu, Z.; Remsberg, J. R.; Li, H.; Njomen, E.; DeMeester, K. E.; Tao, Y.; Xia, G.; Yoo, M.; Nguyen, T.; Simon, G. M.; Schreiber, S. L.; Melillo, B.; Cravatt, B. F.

Journal of the American Chemical Society, 146, 10393–10406

DOI PubMed Details

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