25 years after the human genome sequence, where are we with precision cancer medicine? Prof Paul Workman reflects on the breakthroughs that have transformed cancer drug discovery, from targeted therapies and AI approaches to the role of chemical probes in understanding and validating new targets.

The 11th #ChemicalProbesPortal Hackathon is underway today at the Department of Chemistry, @newcastleuni.bsky.social ! Students and experts working together to evaluate chemical probes. Many thanks to the @mosmedcdt.bsky.social CDT for supporting today’s event! #DrugDiscovery #OpenScience

Professor Paul Workman will deliver a keynote at #NextGenerationCancerTherapeutics in Houston this October, joining leaders from academia, biotech & pharma to explore advances in precision medicine, immunotherapy, AI-enabled drug discovery & next-generation cancer therapeutics.

Just a few days until Discovery & Development Europe 2026 in Berlin! Join us for Paul Workman’s keynote lecture and the Target Identification & Validation Track, co-organised by Susanne Müller-Knapp and supported by ELRIG. See you there on 15–16 June! #DrugDiscovery #ChemicalBiology #ELRIG

Drug Discovery Europe 2026

Pushing traditional boundaries in pharmaceutical science by accelerating the discovery of novel therapeutics

oxfordglobal.com

The 10th #ChemicalProbes Hackathon was a great success in Naples! 👥 20 participants 🎓 7 expert reviewers 📝 16 new probe reviews produced ⏰ All in just 4 hours Thanks to @EUFEPS and SITELF for hosting—and for the real Italian espresso machine at coffee break! ☕🇮🇹

Heading to Discovery & Development Europe 2026 in Berlin 🇩🇪 Proud that our Portal Director, Paul Workman, will deliver a keynote, and Susanne Müller-Knapp will co-organise the Target Identification & Validation Track (with ELRIG). 📅 15–16 June #DrugDiscovery #ChemicalBiology #ELRIG Link 👇

Discovery & Development Europe - Book Now

oxfordglobal.com

Breakthrough Aurora A PROTAC on the Chemical Probes Portal ⭐⭐⭐⭐ CCT400028 @icr.ac.uk London overcomes the hook effect, delivers >120h stability, is highly selective, and includes a matched inactive control. Powering paediatric cancer research. #ChemicalProbes #PROTAC Read more 👇

Researchers overcome major obstacle in targeted protein degradation

Researchers overcome major obstacle in targeted protein degradation

icr.ac.uk

A successful PROTAC Hackathon hosted at the@crick.ac.uk: • 34 participants • 24 reviews generated • 100% reported improved understanding Organised by the Chemical Probes Portal with academic & industry collaboration. Next Hackathon: EUFEPS–SITELF 2026 in Naples 🇮🇹 #ChemicalProbes #PROTACs #EUFEPS

Excited about tomorrow! A full house at @crick.ac.uk for the 9th Chemical Probe Hackathon, with experts from GSK, @icr.ac.uk & TheCrick working with PhDs & postdocs to review chemical probes and improve research quality. #ChemicalProbes #ChemBio #OpenScience #Hackathon

Warm congratulations to Professor Paul Workman on receiving an OBE in the 2026 New Year Honours for services to cancer research. A leader in precision medicine and co-founder of the Chemical Probes Portal, his work has had a lasting impact on chemical biology, drug discovery, and patient benefit. 🎉

Season's Greetings from The Chemical Probes Portal mailchi.mp/cd05056fa93f...

We brought together 22 researchers & 6 experts for a full day of evaluating GPCR and ion channel probes — and completed 26 reviews! Lots of learning, laughter, and deep discussions about what makes a great chemical probe. #ChemicalProbes #OpenScience #DrugDiscovery #GPCR #IonChannels

We’re in Oxford today for the 1st UK Chemical Probes Hackathon! 🎯 Postdocs & PhD students join experts to assess GPCR probes and improve research quality. Hosted by @ChemProbes + @UniofOxford #ChemicalProbes #GPCRs #DrugDiscovery

Happening today and tomorrow (7 October)! Join Müge Sarper, Scientific Coordinator of the Chemical Probes Portal at the @icr.ac.uk, at the poster sessions of the 5th Crick International Cancer Conference. Stop by to learn how the Portal supports cancer and biomedical research. #CrickCancerConf

Excited to share that Müge Sarper, Scientific Coordinator of the Chemical Probes Portal at the Institute of Cancer Research, London (ICR), will present a poster at the 5th Crick International Cancer Conference (5–7 October 2025, London). www.crick.ac.uk/whats-on/5th...

5th Crick International Cancer Conference

crick.ac.uk

🎉 The Chemical Probes Portal turns 10! We’re honoured to be featured in Dr Dan Erlanson’s latest Practical Fragments blog, reflecting on a decade of advancing chemical biology and open science. 🔗 Read the blog: practicalfragments.blogspot.com/2025/08/the-... #ChemicalProbes #Target2035

After 5 years of planning and pilot projects, Target2035, which aims to develop and share pharmacological probes for all human proteins by 2035, is coming out of stealth mode. Our Roadmap for accelerating small molecule hit discovery is now published. rdcu.be/exxi7

Protein–ligand data at scale to support machine learning

Nature Reviews Chemistry - Target 2035 aims to develop a potent and selective pharmacological modulator for every human protein by 2035 with the results made publicly available. This Roadmap...

rdcu.be

🚀 On July 21, the Chemical Probes Portal celebrates 10 years! Launched after the landmark 2015 @NatChemBio paper by Arrowsmith et al., it now features >1150 compounds, >600 targets, and 1600+ expert reviews—powering better biomedical research. 🧪🔬 👉 chemicalprobes.org #ChemicalBiology @icr.ac.uk

New @ACSChemBio study provides strong evidence that the effects of CDK8/19 inhibitors CCT251545 and CCT251921 are on-target. Using CRISPR knockouts + phosphoproteomics, authors show transcriptional & antitumor effects depend on CDK8/19. 🔗 pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/... #ChemicalProbes #CDK8 #OnTarget

Mediator Kinase Inhibitor Selectivity and Activity in Colorectal Cancer

The Mediator complex is a regulator of gene expression, influencing chromatin structure and RNA polymerase II-mediated transcription. Its activity is controlled by a protein kinase module, which inclu...

pubs.acs.org

📣 Happening today! Join the Babraham Distinguished Lecture with Prof Paul Workman | 1–2pm, 12 June 🧬 “Probing and drugging stress pathways: Chemical Biology and therapeutic discovery” #Cancer#StressResponse#DrugDiscovery#ChemicalBiology #TargetValidation#MolecularPharmacology #TranslationalResearch

Babraham Institute@babrahaminst.bsky.social · last yr.

Last chance to register for our next distinguished lecture! 🎟️

Julio et al. reveal that covalent fragments, often used in screens, can trigger stress/proteostasis responses, complicating target validation. Key takeaway: Rigorous controls are crucial to distinguish genuine on-target effects. #ChemBio #DrugDiscovery #Proteostasis www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Delineating cysteine-reactive compound modulation of cellular proteostasis processes - Nature Chemical Biology

A cysteine-reactive degrader of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) nonstructural protein 14 (nsp14) was identified, which mediates degradation through electrophile-induced gl...

nature.com

Reminder: Tomorrow, Professor Paul Workman will give his Meet the Expert Lecture at #AACR: Personalized Molecular Medicine Enabled by Multidisciplinary Approaches to Cancer Drug Discovery and Clinical Development. Details: www.abstractsonline.com/pp8/#!/20273... #AACR2025 #CancerResearch

Have you caught Episode 6 of the #Target2035 Podcast? 🎙️ Danette Daniels (@ FoghornTx) joins Milka Kostic, to dive into the power of #ProteinDegradation – what sets degraders apart, why #TPD is surging, and how we speed discovery. Plus: championing #WomenInSTEM 💪

Capivasertib – the first-in-class AKT inhibitor – is now approved by NICE for NHS use in England & Wales, following FDA and EMA approvals for cancer treatment. #Oncology #CancerResearch #AKT #TargetedTherapy #NICE @icr.ac.uk www.icr.ac.uk/about-us/icr...

🎧 New Target 2035 Podcast! Rachel Harding & Matthieu Schapira dive into #CACHEChallenges — a global effort to refine small-molecule discovery algorithms with real-world validation. 🔬 How does CACHE boost #DrugDiscovery? Find out: lnkd.in/gcwkUXup #AIinDrugDiscovery #OpenScience #MachineLearning

This excellent commentary is a must-read for cancer biologists (and all biologists, really). Probing cancer with small-molecule tools—Progress and challenges: Cancer Cell www.cell.com/cancer-cell/...

Chemical Probes Portal@chemicalprobes.org · last yr.

Our Cancer Cell Commentary reviews progress on chemical probes since Arrowsmith et al. (Nat Chem Biol 2015) and the launch of the Chemical Probes Portal. We highlight key issues, propose solutions, and outline a path to a quality probe for every human protein. #ChemicalProbes

📢Looking ahead to #AACR25 in Chicago — only 6 weeks away! Join the Meet-the-Expert session with Prof. Paul Workman, where he’ll emphasize the critical role of high-quality chemical probes in drug discovery. 📅 April 29, 2025 | ⏰ 5:00-5:45 PM Learn more👇 #CancerResearch

Congratulations to our Chemical Probes Portal Executive Director, Professor Paul Workman, on his election as a Fellow of the AACR Academy Class of 2025! 🎉 An incredible recognition of his lasting impact on cancer research. #AACR #CancerResearch #DrugDiscovery

The Institute of Cancer Research@icr.ac.uk · last yr.

🎉 We are delighted that Professor Paul Workman has been elected as a Fellow of The American Association for Cancer Research Academy @theaacr.bsky.social Professor Workman is honoured for his impact on cancer research and is among the 33 new AACR Fellows in 2025. www.icr.ac.uk/about-us/icr...

The Chemical Probes Portal now covers 601 protein targets, expanding resources for chemical biology & drug discovery! 🧪🔬 New high-quality probes target DCTPP1, MASTL, HCN1, plus E3 ligases & PROTACs for protein degradation. Learn more: www.chemicalprobes.org/news/600-tar... #ChemicalProbes

We provide a new checklist for selecting & using chemical probes—valuable for researchers, journal editors, reviewers, and vendors. Ensure best practices in chemical biology! 🧪✅ 🔗 Supplementary material: ars.els-cdn.com/content/imag... #ChemicalProbes #DrugDiscovery #ChemicalBiology