Olsen Lab

News 2024
September, We had a great workshop in Stockholm with the Ingmer and Melican labs regarding the future directions of our joint NNF Synergy Project.

August, CAO participated in the FASEB meeting on acetylation in Rome and shared recent data from the laboratory on targeting SIRT7 and HDAC11.

June, Congratulations to newly minted group alumni who have earned their BSc (Dina and Abdul) and MSc (Xinyi and Marie) degrees, respectively. Very well done and thank you for your contributions to our research.

June, What a great pleasure to have such amazing speakers at UCPH for our NNF Symposium. Thanks to all participants for this a memorable day.

May, In April and May, we saw three PhD students graduate with flying colors. Thank you so much Daniela, Tobias, and Benjamin for your invaluable contributions to the group and our research since starting on the same day in October 2020.

May, We are happy that Annika Mergel is joining the laboratory as a new graduate student.

May, We celebrated the 10-year anniversary of the Center for Biopharmaceuticals with a symposium, followed by beer tasting and dinner.
 

April, The final version of our manuscript on HDAC inhibitors prepared by SuFEx chemistry on solid-phase is now out in JACS Au.

April, We are welcoming postdoctoral fellow Marcos and visiting PhD Elisa to the lab this month.

March, CAO presents work from the group at the ACS National Meeting as well as at Princeton University .

February, We are happy to welcome BSc students Dina and Abdul as well as new graduate student Riccardo Milazzo to the lab. Riccardo will work on quorum sensing modulators.

News 2023
December, Check out Tobias's review on thioamide chemistry in Chem. Eur.–J.

October, Check out our new publication in SIRT7 substrates and inhibitors in Angew. Chem.

September,  We have shared a new preprint on bioRxiv.

June,  We welcome Miguel to the lab, who will perform postdoctoral studies on quorum sensing in staphylococci, funded by a Novo Nordisk Foundation Synergy Grant.

May,  We are delighted to share that our work on the reactivity of thioesters is now published in JACS Au.

March, We welcome Angelika who is starting her PhD studies in the lab, on a collaborative project with Prof. Meldal and Novo Nordisk A/S, as well as Linda and Katerina who are joining us as Erasmus+ students. 

February, Marie and Marc joined us to perform an individualised study unit project on synthesis and profiling of HDAC inhibitors.

January, We achieved silver status in the LEAF sustainability program, thanks to the efforts of PhD students in the lab. Here are a few news stories from UCPH about the initiative.

For alternative stories in Danish, see: Ritzau or Dansk Kemi

News 2022
December, We are extremely happy to be part of an exciting research project now funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation Interdisciplinary Synergy Program. We look forward to the great collaboration with Ingmer and Melican laboratories at UCPH and Karolinska, respectively.

September, I am grateful to the organizers for the invitation to speak at this year's EuChemS conference in Lisbon.

August, We welcome Iben Jensen to the lab, who will perform her PhD studies on medicinal chemistry efforts based on auto-inducing peptides, funded by the LEO Foundation.

August, We said goodbye to Carlos and Fabrizio and wish them all the best in their next endeavours at EPFL (Fierz lab) and Amgen, respectively. Thank you both for great contributions to the research and group as a whole.

June, We celebrated the excellent co-authoring of these three gentlemen, which resulted in our recent Accounts of Chemical Research paper.

May, Delighted to share our cover art, prepared by Carlos, highlighting his Featured Letter in the May issue of ACS. Med. Chem. Lett.

April, Today we celebrated our recent publications in Science Advances on lysine delactylation and Angewandte Chemie "Hot Paper" on the use of bioisosteres in SIRT5 inhibitors.

January, Again this time we were enjoying the Torkil Holm Symposium "Visions in Chemistry".

January,  We are very happy to share our recent paper on removal of lactyl post translational modifications from lysine residues in histones. Now out in Science Advances.

See also the nice write-up from the University's press office here.

News 2021
December, We are grateful to the LEO Foundation for supporting our research on auto-inducing peptides as anti-virulence agents in skin infections.

October, We celebrated publications in Nat. Commun. and JACS from 2021 with cake and bubbles.

September, Congratulations again to Michael (UCPH), Alexander (EPFL), and Isabelle (Bachem) for earning your PhD degrees during the lockdown and thanks for coming back to celebrate in person.

September, We had a great Center for Biopharmaceuticals retreat with focus on creativity from Night Science and on diversity and equality.

September, It is a pleasure to welcome Amalie, Àsta, and Patrick to the laboratory. Best of luck with your MSc theses.

August, Fantastic to finally get the chance to hear Bengt present his work for which he was awarded the prize for the best PhD thesis in organic chemistry in Denmark, 2020. Congratulations again!

July, Congratulations to Bengt, Benjamin, and Fabrizio and thanks for your excellent work on spontaneously rearranging AIPs, which is now out in JACS.

June, Thanks to all who contributed to making this year's Center for Biopharmaceuticals MSc Day a great succes.

June, I am proud to announce that Carlos has won the nomination to present Denmark at this year's EFMC Young Medicinal Chemist's Symposium.

April, Huge congratulations to Kathrin who successfully defended her PhD and went on to pursue a career in industry at Novozymes A/S.

April, Welcome to the laboratory to Sabrina who is joining us from Germany to do her MSc thesis work on QS and AIPs.

March, Huge congratulations to Alexander who successfully defended his PhD and went on to pursue a postdoctoral fellowship with Prof. Heinis at EPFL.

January, Julie and Alexander presented their impressive PhD works at the DRA Winter School. Congrats to Julie on winning a prize for best oral presentation.

January, Two papers accepted in RSC Chem Biol. Congratulations to first authors Alexander and Kathrin on their great efforts in developing SIRT2 and SIRT3 inhibitors, respectively.

January, Carlos's microarray work is published in Nature Communications link. See also a Behind the Paper post and a press release from the UCPH_Health.

News 2020
December, New graduate student Peter H. G. Egelund joins the lab to do a joint PhD with Novo Nordisk A/S.

October, Welcome to three new PhD students in the lab. Daniela, Benjamin, and Tobias. We look very much forward to working with you.

September, We are happy to welcome James, Javier, and Athanasios who will perform their MSC thesis work in the lab.

September, Congratulations to Sam and Michaela who both defended their MSc thesis and were awarded the best grade in the scale.

July, Bengt receives this year’s prize for the best PhD theses in organic chemistry awarded by the Section for Organic Chemistry, Danish Chemical Society. Huge congratulations. Very well deserved!

June, Congratulations to Isabelle on the successful defense of her PhD theses via Zoom.

May, Congratulations to Michael on the successful defense of his PhD theses via Zoom.

May, We are grateful to the Independent Research Fund Denmark for supporting 3 different projects in the lab. We now look forward to recruiting 3 new graduate students to work on bioisosteres to target human SIRT5, PROTAC degraders that target HDACs, and autoinducing peptides from staphylococci.

February, CAO attends the Peptides GRC

January, We thank the Carlsberg Foundation for funding equipment to start doing electrochemistry in the lab. Kudos to Bengt for writing this proposal!

News 2019
December, We are happy to share work from Nima and Alexander on "Considerations for Drug Design using Mechanism-based Sirtuin Inhibition" via ChemRxiv 2019,  
December, We are currently looking for two ambitious and talented postdocs to work on our ERC-funded project on chemical tools to investigate post-translational modifications. For more information and on-line application, please see HERE.
November, We can finally report on our new design strategy for activity-based probes to investigate lysine acylation. Available at ChemRxiv 2019,. Congratulations on the massive achievement Michael et al.
November, CAO visits the chemistry department at TU Munich for a great day of interaction with faculty and giving a seminar.
September, Nima presents his project to the Hørslev Foundation. Once again, thank you for this great effort Nima.

September, Check out the write-up in Dansk Kemi (in Danish...) of Bengt's protocol for AIP identification. Also featured on the cover.

August, Congratulations to Nikos who successfully defended his MSc thesis on 13C-labeled HDAC inhibitors for NMR studies.
July, We say goodbye to Jiyan and Simona who have defended their MSc theses and will go on to pursue PhD studies with David Spring (Cambridge) and Ryan Shenvi (Scripps), respectively. Well done guys.
July, We thank the Hørslev Foundation for supporting the lab with an equipment grant. Kudos to Nima for securing this!

July, Congratulations to Bengt for successfully defending his PhD. I am happy that you have decided to stay in the lab for another 2 years.
July, We hosted a DRA symposium, featuring Phil Dawson, Thomas B. Poulsen, and Kristian Strømgaard as the speakers.
June, We are happy to announce that the LEO foundation has generously supported our work on quorum sensing through their Open Competition Grant program.

June, Congratulations to Alexander for securing a Fulbright Scholarship to support his sabbatical at Scripps Research, La Jolla, CA in the lab of Prof. Kim Janda.

June, Congratulations to Carlos for successfully defending his PhD. I am happy that you have decided to stay in the lab for while still.
May, Check out the press release from the UCPH on our work on identifying new staphylococcal AIPs here.
April, Big congratulations to Bengt on his Nature Chemistry paper now being on-line. Thanks for the nice News & Views write-up as well.
January, Pablo's Minireview on arylfluorosulfate-based probes is now available at Angewandte Chemie.

News 2018
November, Congratulations to Simona for securing a Novo Scholarship to support her during her MSc thesis work. Well done!

November, Thanks to the Carlsberg Foundation for granting us funding for a cell imager system.

November, Welcome to Patricia who is joining us as an intern to work on photo cross-linking probes
October, We gratefully acknowledge the Lundbeck Foundation for generously providing a grant to support running costs and new equipment.
September, We welcome Ahmed to the lab, who is joining us as a postdoctoral fellow from the Meldal laboratory.
August, Bengt wins 1st prize at the DRA Summer School for his lecture on synthesis, SAR, and identification of auto-inducing peptides. Well done!!
August, Our work on HDAC11 was highlighted by UCPH Health Science News as well as BioWorld Science and BCN News
August, We welcome Adela and Anja who are joining us from KIT in Karlsruhe and Albert-Ludwigs University in Freiburg, respectively to perform their MSc theses.
June, Congratulations to Nima for claiming runner-up spot at the Danish EFMC YI prize symposium.
June, We are looking for a talented and ambitious candidate for a postdoctoral position. For more details and to apply, please go to: link
May, New article on HDAC11 in Cell Chem. Biol. Well done and congrats Iacopo, Carlos, and Andreas.
April, We welcome Jiyan and Nikos who are joining us to perform their MSc theses.
April, Welcome to Dr. Martin Roatsch who is joining us as a postdoctoral fellow funded by the German Science Foundation (DFG).

March, We welcome PhD student Julie E. Bolding and laboratory technician Katrine J. Krydsfeldt to the laboratory.
February, Congratulations Rita on earning your PhD degree.
February, We are looking for a student assistant to help with financial issues. Please see, link.
January, Andreas just submitted our latest results on characterization of a sirtun depropionylase from Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM. Read the manuscript at bioRxiv.
January, Iacopo and Nima both successfully defended their PhD theses. Congratulations!

News 2017
December, We are thankful to the Novo Nordisk Foundation for a new grant supporting work towards chemically modified histones.

November, We are seeking a talented and motivated candidate for a PhD position aiming to investigate sirtuin enzymes using chemical tools. For more information, please click here.
November, We just used the preprint option for the first time. Read about our latest findings on HDAC11 at bioRxiv.
November, We welcome Simona Kotesová to the lab. Simona is joining us from UC Berkeley to be a lab assistant.
September, We welcome Alexander L. Nielsen to the lab. Alexander is joining us to perform his PhD studies.
August, Welcome to Pablo Martin-Gago who is joining us as assistant professor from a postdoctoral position at the Max Planck Institute in Dortmund.
May, Carlos has been selected for a talk at this year's High Throughput Chemistry and Chemical Biology Gordon Research Seminar, Congratulations!
April, We are looking for highly motivated and ambitious postdocs. To read more about the project and apply, please see: announcement
March, We are looking for a highly motivated and ambitious PhD student. To read more about the project and apply, please see: PhD-MedChem
February, We welcome Pieter Moyson from Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium, who will join the lab as an Erasmus student.
February, We welcome Kathrin Troelsen to the lab. Kathrin is joining us from DTU to perform her PhD studies.
January, We welcome Isabelle Wellhöfer to the lab. Isabelle is joining us from Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT) to perform her PhD studies.

News 2016
November, We thank the ERC for the award of a Consolidator Grant to CAO.

November, We welcome Alessia Lucidi to the lab, who is joining us on exchange from the University of Rome.
November, We welcome Michael Bæk and Marina Auth to the lab. Michael is joining us to perform his PhD studies, and Marina is an exchange student from the University of Freiburg.
September, We welcome Huy and Jiyan who will be performing their one-year scholar projects in the lab.
August, Congratulations to Iacopo on winning best poster award at the DRA Summer School.
July, Congratulations to Alex and Andreas on publication of their paper as a Featured Article in Cell Chem. Biol.
July, We are looking for two highly motivated and ambitious PhD students. To read more about the projects and apply, please see: PhD-ChemBiol and PhD-Bioorg
June, We are grateful to the Danish Independent Research Councils, FTP and FNU, for supporting our lab.
April, Big congratulations to Betül on a very successful defense of her PhD thesis Monday 25th of April.
April, Andreas, Helle, Iacopo, Nima, Ragnhild, and CAO attended the FRIAS 3rd Freiburg Epigenetic Spring Meeting.
April, We welcome Carlos Moreno-Yruela to the lab. Carlos is joining us to perform his PhD studies.
March, Check out our News & Views piece in Nat. Chem. Biol. as well as Mazitschek's original research article.
March, Congratulations to Andreas on his two first author publications in jbc and MedChemComm, respectively.
March, We welcome Martin Fontenas to the lab. Martin is joining us as an intern from Université de Montpellier.
February, CAO attended the Gordon Conference on Peptides in Ventura, CA, and was discussion leader for one of the sessions.
February, We welcome Alex Maolanon to the lab. Alex is joining us as a postdoctoral fellow.
February, Congratulations to Iacopo on his first publication, which is on sirtuin substrates and is appearing in J. Med. Chem.

News 2015
December, We thank the Novo Nordisk Foundation and the Carlsberg Foundation for supporting our research in the fall's call for proposals.
November, CAO visited the University of Geneva to meet with faculty and give a lecture on HDAC and sirtuin work from the lab.
November, We are currently looking for a talented and motivated PhD student. The deadline is 30 November, 2015. For the full posting and to apply, please see https://employment.ku.dk/phd/?show=781825.
October, We welcome Bengt Gless to the lab. Bengt is joining us from Germany to perform his graduate studies.
August, Check out the write-up on our two recent publications on foldamers here.
August, We welcome Ragnhild Ohm to the lab. Ragnhild is joining us as a postdoctoral fellow.
August, CAO gives a lecture on foldamers at the 9th Peptoid Summit in Berkeley.
July, Congratulations to Jonas and Jens on the acceptance of their Accounts of Chemical Research article.
July, Congratulations to Jens et al. on the cover of JOC. For details see here.
June, We are currently looking for a talented and motivated PhD student. The deadline is 30 June, 2015. For the full posting and to apply, please see https://employment.ku.dk/phd/?show=745951.
May, Jonas's work on a new beta-peptoid foldamer was published in Nature Communications. Congratulations!
May, We welcome Julie L. H. Madsen to the lab. Julie is joining us as a postdoctoral fellow.
April, CAO presented a poster at this year's 50th edition of the Bürgenstock Conference.
April, Jens successfully defended his PhD Thesis. Congratulations!
March, Also congratulations to Jens and Kathrine et al. on the selection of their paper for the Cover of JOC.
February, Congratulations to Jens and Kathrine et al. on the acceptance of their Full Article in JOC.
January, We welcome Andreas M. Christiansen who will perform his M.Sc. thesis work in the lab.

News 2014
November: We welcome Iacopo Galleano who will join the group from Italy to perform his graduate studies.
November: CAO laboratory finally moves in to the newly renovated facilities at Universitetsparken, Copenhagen.
October: Congratulations to Alex and Jesper et al. on the recent paper on macrocyclic HDAC inhibitors in J. Med. Chem., and thanks to all our collaborators involved.
September: Betül, Helle, and Jens helped co-organize a very successful TOKS meeting at DTU.
September: CAO gave his inaugural lecture on 19/9-2014.
September: CAO received the EFMC Prize for a Young Medicinal Chemist in Academia at the EFMC-ISMC in Lisbon, Portugal.
August: Helle, Betül, and Jonas all gave oral presentations at the ACS meeting in San Francisco. Well done all of you!
August: Congratulations to Jesper, Betül, Kathrine, and Andreas on the acceptance of their work in the MedChemComm Special Issue on Epigenetics.
July: CAO participated in the Gordon Conference on ‘Enzymes, Co-Enzymes, and Metabolic Pathways’.
June: CAO lectures at a Danish Chemical Society Symposium on Recent Advances in Foldamers Research.
June: Congratulations to Betül and Jonas on the acceptance of their work in the Tetrahedron Special Issue on Peptide Macrocycles and BBA Biomembranes, respectively.
June: We welcome Nima Rajabi (graduate student) and Kathrine Wich (research assistant) to the group.
May: Andreas and CAO were co-organizers of the 3-day event: Posttranslational Protein Modifications in Epigenetics and Metabolism, Copenhagen 26-28 May.
May: Welcome back to Jens, who returns to the lab after a six-month stay in Prof. Kirshenbaum’s laboratory at NYU.
April: A large cross-institutional study with enzyme kinetic contributions from our laboratory was published in Cell Metabolism. Congratulations Andreas.
March: CAO gave a lecture on beta-peptoids at the ACS National Meeting in Dallas.
March: Both Alex and Jonas defended their Ph.D. theses. Congratulations!
March: The Olsen Laboratory moves to the ‘Center for Biopharmaceuticals’ at University of Copenhagen, where CAO will assume the position of professor and principal investigator.
February: Work from Andreas, Helle, and Gyrithe was published in a special issue of ChemMedChem and was chosen for the Back Cover illustration. Congratulations on a very nice piece of work.
February: Christian Andersen and Mohammad Daoud defended their B.Sc. theses. Congratulations!
January: The group participates in the Torkil Holm Visions in Chemistry Symposium.
January: Jesper defended his Ph.D. thesis on January 23th, and is leaving academia for a job at Zealand Pharma. Congratulations!

News 2013
December: We gratefully acknowledge the Carlsberg Foundation for funding a microwave peptide synthesizer.
September: CAO gave a lecture at the 10th Australian Peptide Conference in Penang, Malaysia.
September: Christian Andersen and Mohammad Daoud joined the group to perform their B.Sc. thesis work on acyllysine substrates.
August: Helle, Andreas, and CAO attended the FASEB Conference on HDACs and Sirtuins in Barga, Lucca, Italy.
July: Congratulations to Jesper, Helle, and Alex on the acceptance of their azumamide work for publication in J. Med. Chem.

July: Congratulations to Emma for receiving the top grade for her B.Sc. thesis.

June: Andreas attended the Gordon Conferences on Bioorganic Chemistry and High-Throughput Chemistry & Chemical Biology.

June: CAO attended the American Peptide Symposium.

April: Jonas and Jens presented posters at the Foldamer Symposium in Paris.

April: Betül and Helle presented posters at the TOKS Meeting in Odense, DK.

April: CAO gave a lecture at the ACS National Meeting in New Orleans.
March: CAO gave a lecture at the PepCon conference in Suzhou, China. 

January: Congratulations to Jonas on the acceptance of his peptoid rotamer study for publication in JACS. 

January: Congratulations to Andreas upon his award of a Sapere Aude postdoc grant. 

January: We welcome Saswati Chakladar who will join the group as a postdoctoral fellow.

News 2012
December: Villumfonden is gratefully acknowledged for a ”blokstipend” grant.
October: CAO gave a lecture at University of Barcelona.

July: Congratulations to Andreas on the acceptance of his work on KDAC substrates in Angewandte Chemie.

June: CAO gave a lecture at the Danish Chemical Society Annual Meeting in Odense, DK. 

May: Andreas’s work on sirtuin substrates was accepted for publication in J. Med. Chem. Congratulations! 

May: CAO participated in this years Bürgenstock Conference and TIDES-2012.

March: We welcome Betül Kitir who joins the group to perform her M.Sc. thesis work.

January: CAO receives a JSP fellowship from the organizing committee of the Bürgenstock Conference.

News 2011
December: We gratefully acknowledge the Carlsberg Foundation for funding a plate reader.

November: Congratulations to Jesper for winning the Pharma Student Award 2011 at University of Copenhagen for his master thesis work.

November: We welcome Jens Engel-Andreasen who will join the group to perform his graduate studies.

November: CAO participates in the DR2 television program "Danskernes Akademi" for a themed series in recognition of the International Year of Chemistry.

July: Collaborative work from the laboratories of Prof. Ghadiri and Prof. Balch at The Scripps Research Institute was accepted for publication in ACS Med. Chem. Lett.

July: CAO participates in the EuCheMS Organic Division Young Investigator Workshop, followed by ESOC 2011.

June: CAO participates in the American Peptide Symposium in San Diego.

News 2010
December: Jesper Villadsen (graduate student) and Andreas S. Madsen (postdoctoral fellow) join the group.

December: CAO gives a lecture in the Frontiers in Peptide Chemistry Symposium at Pacifichem. 

November: Jonas Striegler Laursen and Alex Maolanon join the group to perform their graduate studies.

October: CAO participates in the talk show Lounge on TV2 Lorry.

October: CAO receives a Lundbeck Foundation Junior Group Leader Fellowship ($1.75 M).

June: CAO receives a Steno grant from the Danish Council for Independent Research/Natural Sciences.

Lysine acylation, HDACs, and sirtuins
ε-N-Acyllysines are prevalent, reversible posttranslational modifications involved in a wide range of biological processes within all domains of life. We apply a variety of chemical techniques to interrogate enzymes that recognize and/or reverse posttranslationally acylated lysine residues.

We develop chemically modified peptides for the discovery and elucidation of unprecedented enzymatic activities of lysine deacylases (KDACs). To this end, we exploit in vitro high-throughput fluorogenic assays and complementary LCMS-based assays. We also develop novel affinity-based probes (ABPs) for investigating enzymatic readers and erasers of posttranslational lysine modifications.

Finally, we have discovered a range of chemical probes and inhibitors with varying selectivity profiles across the human HDAC and sirtuin enzymes. We are currently working towards additional subtype-selective inhibitors by taking advantage of both structural and mechanistic insight, as well as high-throughput screening technologies. These compound will be valuable tools to investigate the biological consequences of temporal inhibition of individual HDACs.

J. E. Bolding,⁺ A. L. Nielsen,⁺ I. Jensen,⁺ T. N. Hansen,⁺ L. A. Ryberg, S. T. Jameson, P. Harris, G. H. J. Peters, J. M. Denu, J. M. Rogers, C. A. Olsen. Fluorogenic Substrates and Cyclic Peptide Inhibitors of the Oligonucleotide Activated Sirtuin 7. Angew. Chem Int. Ed. 2023, 62, e202314597. PDF [bioRxiv]

C. Moreno-Yruela, M. Bæk, F. Monda, C. A. Olsen. Chiral Posttranslational Modification to Lysine ε-Amino Groups. Acc. Chem. Res. 2022, 55, 1456–1466. PDF [ChemRxiv]

C. Moreno-Yruela, C. A. Olsen. Efficient Fluorogenic Assays for Histone Deacetylases: Screening and Determination of Kinetic Parameters. STAR Protoc. 2021, 2, 100313. PDF

Peptide chemistry and quorum sensing
We are interested in the development of methods for chemical peptide synthesis, cyclization, and site-selective modification to furnish bioactive chemotypes. One problem that we are currently investigating is the cross-talk between bacterial pathogens through the quorum sensing (QS) system. In these studies we aim to increase the understanding of co-colonization and to identify new anti-virulence compounds.  We also focus on investigation fundamental chemical reactivity of natural autoinducing peptides and  the development of efficient strategies for synthesis of peptides  to minimize protecting group manipulations, to simplify the purification, and to speed up the workflow to achieve the final peptides.

B. S. Bejder, F. Monda, B. H. Gless, M. S. Bojer, H. Ingmer, C. A. Olsen. A Short-lived Peptide Signal Regulates Cell-to-Cell Communication in Listeria monocytogenes. Commun. Biol. 2024, 7, 942. PDF [bioRxiv]

B. H. Gless, B. S. Bejder, F. Monda, M. S. Bojer, H. Ingmer, C. A. Olsen. Rearrangement of Thiodepsipeptides by S→N Acyl Shift Delivers Homodetic Autoinducing Peptides. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 10514–10518. PDF [ChemRxiv]

B. H. Gless, M. S. Bojer, P. Peng, M. Baldry, H. Ingmer, C. A. Olsen. Identification of Autoinducing Thiodepsipeptides from Staphylococci Enabled by Native Chemical Ligation. Nat. Chem. 2019, 11, 463–469. PDF [PubMed]

Foldamers
We are investigating the structural and functional properties of oligomers and model systems containing non-canonical amino acids. Of particular interest is modifications to the backbone architecture. One such example is the so-called β-peptoids (N-alkyl-β-alanines). By chemical modification of backbone or side chains we seek to control the 3D structure in order to find new candidates for e.g. functional materials or enzyme-mimicking catalysts. Based on monomer model studies of the cis–trans amide bond isomerism, we designed a β-peptoid homooligomer that folds into a helical conformation. We are continuously working on the functionalization of these helices and the development of novel secondary structures.

J. S. Laursen, J. Engel-Andreasen, C. A. Olsen. β-Peptoid Foldamers at Last. Acc. Chem. Res. 2015, 48, 2696–2704. PDF

Google Scholar profile
Full list in Scopus

Selected representative publications
D. Zhang, J. Gao, Z. Zhu, Q. Mao, Z. Xu, P. K. Singh, C. C. Rimayi, C. Moreno-Yruela, S. Xu, G. Li, Y.-C. Sin, Y. Chen, C. A. Olsen, N. W. Snyder, L. Dai, L. Li, Y. Zhao. Lysine L-Lactylation is the Dominant Lactylation Isomer Induced by Glycolysis. Nat. Chem. Biol. 2024, 20, in press. PDF [PubMed] 

News & views. D. Danková, C. A. Olsen. Reversing the Charge of Lysine by Genetic Code Expansion. Nat. Chem. 2024, 16, 849–851. PDF [PubMed]

T. N. Hansen, D. Danková, M. Bæk, L. Grlas, C. A. Olsen. SuFEx-Based Solid-Phase Synthesis of Compound Arrays: Discovery of Histone Deacetylase Inhibitors. JACS Au 2024, 4, 1854–1862. PDF [ChemRxiv]

B. H. Gless,* S. H. Schmied, B. S. Bejder, C. A. Olsen.* Förster Resonance Energy Transfer Assay for Investigating the Reactivity of Thioesters in Biochemistry and Native Chemical Ligation. JACS Au 2023, 3, 1443–1451. PDF [ChemRxiv]

J. E. Bolding,⁺ A. L. Nielsen,⁺ I. Jensen,⁺ T. N. Hansen,⁺ L. A. Ryberg, S. T. Jameson, P. Harris, G. H. J. Peters, J. M. Denu, J. M. Rogers, C. A. Olsen. Fluorogenic Substrates and Cyclic Peptide Inhibitors of the Oligonucleotide Activated Sirtuin 7. Angew. Chem Int. Ed. 2023, 62, e202314597. PDF  [bioRxiv]

J. E. Bolding,^† P. Martín-Gago,^† N. Rajabi, L. F. Gamon, T. N. Hansen, C. R. O. Bartling, K. Strømgaard, M. J. Davies, C. A. Olsen. Aryl Fluorosulfate Based Inhibitors that Covalently Target the SIRT5 Lysine Deacylase. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022, 61, e202204565. PDF [ChemRxiv]

N. Rajabi,⁺ T. N. Hansen,⁺ A. L. Nielsen,⁺ H. T. Nguyen, M. Bæk, J. E. Bolding, O. Ø. Bahlke, S. E. G. Petersen, C. R. O. Bartling, K. Strømgaard, C. A. Olsen. Investigation of Carboxylic Acid Isosteres and Prodrugs for Inhibition of the Human SIRT5 Lysine Deacylase Enzyme. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2022, 61, e202115805. PDF [ChemRxiv] (Hot Paper)

C. Moreno-Yruela, M. Bæk, F. Monda, C. A. Olsen. Chiral Posttranslational Modification to Lysine ε-Amino Groups. Acc. Chem. Res. 2022, 55, 1456–1466. PDF [ChemRxiv]

C. Moreno-Yruela,^† D. Zhang,^† W. Wei, M. Bæk, W. Liu, J. Gao, D. Dankova, A. L. Nielsen, J. E. Bolding, L. Yang, S. T. Jameson, J. Wong, C. A. Olsen,* Y. Zhao.* Class I Histone Deacetylases (HDAC1–3) are Histone Lysine Delactylases. Sci. Adv. 2022, 8, eabi6696. PDF [PubMed]
UCPH Health Science, 19 January 2022
EurekAlert! 20 January 2022

D. Yan, A. Franzini, A D. Pomicter, B. Halverson, O. Antelope, C. C. Mason, J. M. Ahmann, A. V. Senina, C. L. Jones, M. S. Zabriskie, H. Than, M. Xiao, A. van Scoyk, A. B. Patel, P. M. Clair, W. L. Heaton, J. L Andersen, C. M. Egbert, J. A. Reisz, A. D’Alessandro, J. E. Cox, K. C. Gantz, H. M. Redwine, S. Lyer, J. S. Khorashad, N. Rajabi, C. A. Olsen, T. O'Hare, M. W. Deininger. SIRT5 Is a Druggable Metabolic Vulnerability in Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Blood Cancer Discov. 2021, 2, 266–287. PDF [PubMed]

B. H. Gless, B. S. Bejder, F. Monda, M. S. Bojer, H. Ingmer, C. A. Olsen. Rearrangement of Thiodepsipeptides by S→N Acyl Shift Delivers Homodetic Autoinducing Peptides. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2021, 143, 10514–10518. PDF [ChemRxiv]

Moreno-Yruela, M. Bæk, A.-E. Vrsanova, C. Schulte, H. M. Maric, C. A. Olsen. Hydroxamic Acid-Modified Peptide Microarrays for Profiling Isozyme-Selective Interactions and Inhibition of Histone Deacetylases. Nat. Commun. 2021, 12, 62. PDF [ChemRxiv]

M. Bæk, P. Martín-Gago, J. S. Laursen, J. L. H. Madsen, S. Chakladar, C. A. Olsen. Activity-dependent Probes Containing ε-N-Thioacyllysine and ε-N-Acyl-(δ-aza)lysine Residues. Chem.–Eur. J. 2020, 26, 3862–3869. PDF [ChemRxiv]

B. H. Gless, M. S. Bojer, P. Peng, M. Baldry, H. Ingmer, C. A. Olsen. Identification of Autoinducing Thiodepsipeptides from Staphylococci Enabled by Native Chemical Ligation. Nat. Chem. 2019, 11, 463–469. PDF

P. Martín-Gago, C. A. Olsen. Arylfluorosulfate-based Electrophiles for Covalent Protein Labeling: A New Addition to the Arsenal. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2019, 58, 957–966. PDF

C. Moreno-Yruela,^† I. Galleano,^† A. S. Madsen, C. A. Olsen. Histone Deacetylase 11 is an ε-N-Myristoyllysine Hydrolase. Cell Chem. Biol. 2018, 25, 849–856. PDF [bioRxiv]

N. Rajabi, M. Auth, K. R. Troelsen, M. Pannek, D. P. Bhatt, M. Fontenas, M. D. Hirschey, C. Steegborn, A. S. Madsen, C. A. Olsen. Mechanism-based Inhibitors of the Human Sirtuin 5 Deacylase: Structure–Activity Relationship, Biostructural, and Kinetic Insight. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2017, 56, 14836–14841. PDF [PubMed] 

A. R. Maolanon, A. S. Madsen, C. A. Olsen. Innovative Strategies for Selective Inhibition of Histone Deacetylases. Cell Chem. Biol. 2016, 23, 759–768. PDF Free Featured Article

J. S. Laursen, J. E. Andreasen, C. A. Olsen. β-Peptoid Foldamers at Last. Acc. Chem. Res 2015, 48, 2696–2704. PDF

J. S. Laursen, P. Harris, P. Fristrup, C. A. Olsen. Triangular Prism-Shaped β-Peptoid Helices as Unique Biomimetic Scaffolds. Nat. Commun. 2015, 6, 7013. PDF

A. S. Madsen, C. A. Olsen. Profiling of Substrates for the Zinc-dependent Lysine Deacylase Enzymes: HDAC3 Exhibits Decrotonylase Activity In Vitro. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 9083–9087. PDF

C. A. Olsen. Expansion of the Lysine Acylation Landscape. Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2012, 51, 3755–3756. PDF