Our Mission
Do good science. Find cures.
At a Glance
Petukhov Group conducts research and maintains strong expertise in state-of-the-art medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, and computational methods aimed at drug discovery and preclinical drug development.
Schistosomiasis
We are developing novel small molecule therapeutics to treat schistosomiasis, a devastating, neglected disease with more than 200 million people infected resulting in 200,000 deaths annually and poorly documented chronic illness and disability
Inhibitors of Histone Deacetylases
Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are key epigenetic players and post-translational regulators and are important targets for a variety of diseases and conditions. We are developing HDAC inhibitors that can selectively modulate activity of multiprotein histone deacetylase complexes in the biological context specific manner.
Chemical Biology
Cell permeable chemical probes to study target engagement in live cells and tissues are essential for effective design of novel small molecule therapeutics and elucidation of their on- and off-target effects. Our approach is to “photograph” (covalently attach) receptor ligands (photoreactive probes or PRPs) bound to their targets in live cells and tissues and reconstruct the structure of the resulting biological complexes using a combination of cutting-edge computational, proteomics, and other biophysical techniques.
Other Projects
In collaboration with our colleagues, we have contributed to development of small molecule therapeutics and understanding of biology of hepatitis B, tuberculosis, sarcoidosis, migraine, Alzheimer’s and cardiovascular diseases.