Practical_Fragments

From fragment to clinic: the story of VVD-214, covalent allosteric inhibitor of WRN helicase, and part 3 of 3 for our round-up of fragments against this flexible, fascinating cancer target practicalfragments.blogspot.com/2026/05/fragme… @bmsnews @VividionRx @ACSPublications

Crystallographic fragment screen finds cryptic pockets on oncology target WRN, protein co-folding software suggests binding modes to generate covalent inhibitors practicalfragments.blogspot.com/2026/05/from-n…

Finding fragments when a protein has many conformations: Merck team finds and advances fragments against synthetic lethal cancer target WRN helicase practicalfragments.blogspot.com/2026/05/noncov…

Watch out for X-ray structures that assume every protein has a ligand. A new analysis suggests one-third should show partial binding. Just one-tenth in the PDB actually do: practicalfragments.blogspot.com/2026/05/not-ge… @Structure_CP @StJude

Latching into and breaking out of a cryptic pocket: Efforts toward a chemical probe of anti-virulence bacterial target DsbA practicalfragments.blogspot.com/2026/04/fragme… @ACSPublications  @MIPS_Australia

A wrap-up of fragment-relevant talk at San Diego's sunny @CHI_Healthtech practicalfragments.blogspot.com/2026/04/twenty… GPCRs, NMR, hit optimization, platform development, covalent drugs, direct-to-biology, computational screening, molecular glues, and more

Targeted protein degradation in cancer cells? Fragment screen plus optimization yields cell-active ligand on the E3 end for a selective PROTAC: practicalfragments.blogspot.com/2026/04/fragme… @AmerChemSociety @JMedChem

SARS-CoV-2s papain-like protease is a tough target. Researchers @VanderbiltChem advance fragment hit non-covalently and covalently: practicalfragments.blogspot.com/2026/04/from-n… @ACSMedChemLett @JMedChem @AmerChemSociety

The laxest ligand efficiency metric, at last! practicalfragments.blogspot.com/2026/04/nicele…

A practical metric from @VividionRxto to help weed out nonspecific, generally-reactive covalent ligands: Ligand reactivity efficiency (LRE) practicalfragments.blogspot.com/2024/01/covale… @ACSPublications

Artifacts against a SARS-CoV-2 target exposed! A cautionary tale shows the importance of compound resynthesis and purification practicalfragments.blogspot.com/2026/03/malici… @ACSPublications

Before trusting a chemical probe or advancing a lead compound, a selectivity check is crucial. But cell-free (DiscoverX @EurofinsGroup ) and cell assays (NanoBRET @promega) can yield different answers for kinases. practicalfragments.blogspot.com/2026/03/select… @Chemical_probes @ACSPublications

A technique to find the binding mode of fragment-sized millimolar binders? Hydrogen/deuterium exchange MS (HDX-MS) gets at least 2/3 for CyclophilinD: practicalfragments.blogspot.com/2026/03/best-p…

Dimer detection, binding kinetics, and more: A wealth of biophysics techniques from @novalix_pharma conference in San Diego: practicalfragments.blogspot.com/2026/02/twelft…

3D fragment hit rates are lower, but perhaps advancement goes faster. A shapely scaffold yields an impressive hit for the histamine H1 receptor. practicalfragments.blogspot.com/2026/02/3d-fra… @RoySocChem

A fragment becomes a trimer and a potent inhibitor of lipoprotein(a) formation. How a rule-of-3 compliant fragment became an unconventional but promising phase 3 candidate for CV disease: practicalfragments.blogspot.com/2026/02/multiv… @ProfSNicholls ⁩ ⁦@MonashVHI⁩⁦ @Nature⁩ @EliLillyandCo

Crystallographic SAR Hits from high-throughput X-ray screens of crude mixtures can be broken down into fingerprints that identify new binders that crude extract X-ray screening miss practicalfragments.blogspot.com/2026/02/xsar-c… @UniofOxford @DiamondLightSou @FrankvonDelft

Fragment merging finds submicromolar binders for a kink in a leucine zipper practicalfragments.blogspot.com/2026/01/fragme… In @NatureComms, @Novartis researchers find binders for a difficult melanoma target, the transcription factor MITF

The shapeliness debate has run for decades. A new analysis compares metrics of molecular 3D shape practicalfragments.blogspot.com/2026/01/how-be…

Planning your travel year? Here's a list of fragment-related conferences practicalfragments.blogspot.com/2026/01/fragme… @CHI_Healthtech @novalix_pharma