For pioneering efforts to investigate small-molecule protein interactions, which could lead to new or better drugs

Each year, the Bayer Science and Education Foundation's Talent Awards honor three young scientists from three categories: biology, chemistry, and medical science. This year, Christina Woo, an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at Harvard University, competed with an international cadre of chemistry nominees and won.

Woo earned her Talent Award for investigating how small molecules influence protein functions, which, in turn, affect the critical biological signals those proteins send out across the body. Malfunctioning proteins can cause severe—sometimes lethal—miscommunications between cells. So, researchers design drugs based on small molecules—like sugars—to manipulate proteins to return to normal function.

"The human proteome consists of 20,000 proteins," Woo said, "but less than 3% of these are 'druggable' by a small molecule agent." In her lab, Woo maps out previously unknown interactions between small molecules and proteins, potentially enabling new drugs to treat previously intractable diseases or more efficient therapies that mitigate toxic effects of off-target agents.

"Understanding the code relayed by these chemical modifications requires new innovations to systematically discover and measure their regulatory outcomes," Woo said. Right now, she and her lab members are using and improving technology they designed to do just that: unravel the mysteries of the complex proteome ecosystem. 

Woo's research has been recognized by the Sloan Research Foundation, International Chemical Biology Society Young Chemical Biologist Award, the NIH DP1 Avenir Award, and the Ono Pharma Foundation Breakthrough Science Award. She will receive her latest prize, which comes with EUR 10,000, at the Bayer Foundation Day in Leverkusen, Germany, on October 28.