Luca Laraia

Luca Laraia is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), specializing in Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology. His research focuses on the design of small molecules targeting intracellular sterol transport proteins, autophagy regulation, and the development of natural product-inspired compound libraries. He actively collaborates on projects exploring the biological activity of pseudo-natural products and their applications in cancer therapy, immunology, and cellular signaling pathways.

Dr. Laraia supervises multiple PhD students in projects such as developing inhibitors for fungal sterol transporters, designing aptamer-based drug delivery systems, and evaluating synthetic RNA polymers for gene editing. His work contributes to UN Sustainable Development Goals related to health and innovation. Key research tools include thermal proteome profiling, phenotypic screening, and advanced synthetic chemistry techniques. He maintains an active lab at DTU's Kemitorvet campus and collaborates internationally on chemical biology initiatives.

His publications span high-impact journals like Nature Chemical Biology and ACS Central Science, emphasizing interdisciplinary approaches to drug discovery and cellular mechanism elucidation. Current research trends include small molecule modulation of cholesterol transport pathways, fluorescent probe development for protein degradation, and leveraging chemical diversity for novel therapeutic targets.

• Grants & Projects: Includes EU-funded initiatives on chemical biology and collaborations on autophagy inhibitors, sterol transporters, and synthetic compound collections.
• Awards: While specific honors are not listed, his work has garnered significant academic attention, including news coverage and social media engagement.
• Labs/Teams: Leads a research group at DTU focused on chemical biology and molecular pharmacology, fostering interdisciplinary research.