Profile Photo of SBS Faculty Julien Lescar

Prof. Lescar, Julien

Professor
Director, NTU Institute of Structural Biology

Phone: (65) 6908 2208
Email: [email protected] 
Personal Lab Webpage: http://lescargroup.com/ 

We use a combination of scientific techniques in Structural Biology and Biochemistry to help the discovery of new therapeutics targeting infectious diseases such as malaria and RNA viruses (flaviviruses, alphaviruses, coronaviruses, pneumoviruses). More recently we have turned our attention to the development and application of enzymatic bioconjugation to produce homogeneous Antibody drug conjugates for cancer therapy and tumor imaging.

Research Areas

Structural Biology, Structure-based drug discovery, Enzymatic methods for bioconjugation, Antibody-Drug conjugates as cancer therapeutics, Nanobody radionuclides for cancer imaging

Profile Photo of Lab Member Aghil Soman
Aghil Soman
Presidential Postdoctoral Fellow
Profile Photo of Lab Member Lin Jianqing
Lin Jianqing
Research Fellow
Profile Photo of Lab Member Liu Xiaoyan
Liu Xiaoyan
Research Assistant
Profile Photo of Lab Member Nivedita Kumar
Nivedita Kumar
Project Officer
Profile Photo of Lab Member Shum Khum Wayne
Shum Khum Wayne
Research Associate
Profile Photo of Lab Member Syed Moiz Ahmed
Syed Moiz Ahmed
Senior Research Fellow
Profile Photo of Lab Member Wong Yee Hwa
Wong Yee Hwa
Research Fellow
Profile Photo of Lab Member Yao Gongwang
Yao Gongwang
Project Officer
  • Wirjanata G, Dziekan JM, Lin J, El Sahili A, Nur Zulkifli E, Boentoro J, Go KD, Yu H, Partridge A, Olsen D, Prabhu N, Sobota RM, Nordlund P, Lescar J, Bozdech Z. Identification of an inhibitory pocket in falcilysin provides a new avenue for malaria drug development. Cell Chem Biol. 2024;31(4):743–759.e8. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chembiol.2024.03.002
  • Chung Z, Lin J, Wirjanata G, Dziekan JM, El Sahili A, Preiser PR, Bozdech Z, Lescar J. Identification and structural validation of purine nucleoside phosphorylase from Plasmodium falciparum as a target of MMV000848. J Biol Chem. 2024;300(1):105586. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jbc.2023.105586
  • Ku Z, Xie X, Lin J, Gao P, Wu B, El Sahili A, Su H, Liu Y, Ye X, Tan EY, Li X, Fan X, Goh BC, Xiong W, Boyd H, Muruato AE, Deng H, Xia H, Zou J, Kalveram BK, Menachery VD, Zhang N, Lescar J, Shi PY, An Z. Engineering SARS-CoV-2 specific cocktail antibodies into a bispecific format improves neutralizing potency and breadth. Nat Commun. 2022;13(1):5552. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-33284-y
  • Pan J, Qian X, Lattmann S, El Sahili A, Yeo TH, Huan J, Cressey T, Ludeke B, Noton S, Kalocsay M, Fearns R, Lescar J. Structure of the human metapneumovirus polymerase phosphoprotein complex. Nature. 2020;577(7789):275–279. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-019-1759-1
  • Hemu X, El Sahili A, Hu S, Wong K, Chen Y, Wong YH, Zhang X, Serra A, Goh BC, Darwis DA, Chen MW, Sze SK, Liu CF, Lescar J, Tam JP. Structural determinants for peptide-bond formation by asparaginyl ligases. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019;116(24):11737–11746. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1818568116