Chemistry Seminar Presented by Professor Xiaoyu Zhang (Northwestern Uninversity) Targeted Protein Control: From Mechanistic Insights to Therapeutic Strategies

The Department of Chemistry is excited to Professor Xiaoyu Zhang (Northwestern University) on Tuesday, February 10, 2026 for a departmental seminar.

My research group uses small molecules to study biological processes, with the goal of controlling protein function for therapeutic applications. A major focus is targeted protein degradation, where we build platforms to discover E3 ligases and show that both cancer-overexpressed and mutant ligases can be harnessed for selective protein removal. In parallel, we uncover chemical principles in immunology by demonstrating that reactive residues on MHC-I peptide antigens can be targeted to modulate immune responses. We also investigate hapten-modified peptides, uncovering their role in allergy and harnessing this mechanism for immunotherapy. Together, these efforts reveal how chemistry shapes biology and point toward new ways of developing therapeutics.

To learn more about Prof. Xiaoyu Zhang research, please visit: https://zhanglabnu.com/research/

Seminar hosted by Prof. Evert Njomen