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 03.09.2025

IRB Barcelona participates in a European alliance to advance new proximity-induced drug modalities

Scientists from the Institute for Research in Biomedicine of Barcelona (IRB Barcelona), located at the Barcelona Science Park (PCB), are part of a new European alliance aimed at advancing the development of proximity-induced drug modalities. The article, published in the Perspective section of Molecular Cell, was prepared jointly with researchers from Goethe University Frankfurt, CeMM and AITHYRA in Vienna, the University of Dundee, and EPFL in Lausanne.

These therapeutic approaches, which include targeted protein degradation via PROTACs and molecular glue degraders, and emerging technologies including artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, seek to harness the power of induced proximity to eliminate or modulate disease-relevant proteins, many of which are currently considered undruggable.

Authors Ivan Dikic, Cristina Mayor-Ruiz, Georg Winter, Kerstin Koch, Alessio Ciulli, and Nicolas Thomä, emphasize the foundational role of academia in advancing this field and call for tighter academic-industry collaboration to unlock its full therapeutic potential.

“Harnessing proximity-induced pharmacology offers unprecedented opportunities to modulate disease-driving proteins once deemed undruggable, truly expanding the frontiers of therapeutic innovation. This Alliance is designed to catalyze collaboration between academia to speed scientific discoveries toward real patient impact”, states Dr. Cristina Mayor-Ruiz, group leader of the Targeted Protein Degradation and Drug Discovery laboratory at IRB Barcelona.

The Perspective outlines recent scientific breakthroughs, including the evolution of PROTACs from concept to clinic, rational design of molecular glues, and novel strategies to redirect cellular degradation machinery. It also discusses how AI and machine learning have the potential to accelerate proximity-induced drug discovery.

The proposed Alliance aims to pool expertise, infrastructure, and digital platforms across Europe to train future leaders, boost translational research, invite other colleagues to join, and accelerate the development of next-generation proximity-based therapies.

» Article of reference: Opportunities in proximity modulation: Bridging academia and industry. Ivan Dikic, Cristina Mayor-Ruiz, Georg E. Winter, Kerstin Koch, Alessio Ciulli, Nicolas H. Thomä. Molecular Cell (2025). doi: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.molcel.2025.07.018

» Link to the news: IRB Barcelona website [+]