Professor Dr Erick M. Carreira

Research Priorities: Organic and medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, catalysis
Erick Carreira is an American chemist. His work encompasses various areas of organic chemistry, including natural products chemistry, biology and synthesis, medicinal chemistry, chemical biology, as well as synthetic methodology and asymmetric catalysis. These areas collectively and individually contribute to the drug discovery and development process.
Erick Carreira’s research focuses on a number of core disciplines within the more general area of modern organic chemistry. The first of these is the asymmetric synthesis of biologically active, stereochemically and structurally complex natural products. Targets are selected that meet a variety of key criteria: (1) important and interesting biological activity of relevance to molecular biology and to human medicine in the long term; (2) natural products of human origin; and (3) difficult structural challenges that guide and inspire the discovery and study of new reactions and synthetic strategies. A complex, multi-step synthesis endeavour provides a goal-oriented setting within which to engage in reaction innovation and design. Synthesis provides new avenues for thinking about the creation of complex structures relevant to human medicine. These same molecules are used to shed light on fundamental biological processes.
The information that is gained in the process informs a second focus of Carreira’s work: the synthesis of biological probes and medicines. Specifically, Erick Carreira and his team are working to develop proteolysis targeting chimeras (PROTACs) and ligand-directed covalent probes for the study of cannabinoid receptors in live cells, including research projects in photopharmacology.
An additional focus of Carreira’s work is the identification and synthesis of novel scaffolds and building blocks for medicinal-chemical studies and pharmaceutical drug development. In another current project, which draws from the areas of organometallic chemistry, coordination chemistry, and molecular recognition, Carreira’s team aims to develop catalytic and stoichiometric reagents for the discovery, design, and study of novel molecular structures, with an emphasis on reactions that display high levels of sensitivity.