Minh Sai

 

Research Interest

Nuclear receptors like Nurr1 or RXR are promising targets in neurodegenerative diseases. My focus is on developing new ligands as tool compounds for these receptors. This will allow us to study the medicinal chemistry of these and their biological functions in a deeper way. In addition, I am investigating if there are still unknown endogenous ligands for nuclear receptors that have not been reported yet.

Publications

Nawa, F.; Sai, M.; Vietor, J.; Schwarzenbach, R.; Bitić, A.; Wolff, S.; Ildefeld, N.; Pabel, J.; Wein, T.; Marschner, J. A.; Heering, J.; Merk, D. Tuning RXR modulators for PGC1α recruitment. J. Med. Chem., 2024. DOI

Hank, E. C.; Sai, M.; Kasch, T.; Meijer, I.; Marschner, J. A.; Merk, D. Development of Tailless Homologue (TLX) Agonist Chemical Tools. J. Med. Chem., 2024. DOI

Sai, M.; Hank, E. C.; Lewandowski, M.; Kasch, T.; Marschner, J. A.; Merk, D. Development of Potent and Selective Nurr1 Agonists from Amodiaquine By Scaffold Hopping and Fragment Growing. Commun. Chem., 2024, 7, 149. DOI

Sai, M.; van Herwijnen, N.; Merk, D. Azologs of the fatty acid mimetic drug cinalukast enable light-induced PPARα activation. ChemMedChem, 2024, DOI

Lewandowski, M.; Carmina, M.; Knümann, L.; Sai, M.; Willems, S.; Kasch, T.; Pollinger, J.; Knapp, S.; Marschner, J. A.; Chaikuad, A.; Merk, D. Structure-Guided Design of a Highly Potent Partial RXR Agonist with Superior Physicochemical Properties. J. Med. Chem., 2024, 67, 2152–2164. DOI

Sai, M.; Vietor, J.; Kornmayer, M.; Egner, M.; López-García, U.; Höfner, G.; Pabel, J.; Marschner, J.; Wein, T.; Merk, D. Structure-Guided Design of Nurr1 Agonists Derived from the Natural Ligand Dihydroxyindole. J. Med. Chem., 2023, DOI 

Arifi,S; Becker, I.; Friedly, K.; Sai, M.; Zündorf,I.; Fürst, R. Ein “Trojanisches Pferd” als neue Therapieoption für lysosomale Speicherkrankheit.  Pharmakon Arzneimittel in Wissenschaft und Praxis (DPhG), 2/2019, 7 Jg, 77-79.