MetBioCat
ERC Advanced Grant Project

Chemical Biology Metal Catalysis

Our Aims

Generation, training and transfer of knowledge

Development of creative and groundbreaking
research at the interface of Chemistry, Biology and Medicine.

Education of researchers in order they become
future leaders of academic or industrial projects.

Transferring of knowledge to Society in order
to propel economical and social progress

European Research Council Santiago de Compostela University Campus Vida CIQUS - Centro Singular de Investigación en Química Biológica y Materiales Moleculares
Latest News
Media Library

Congratulations ot our group leader, for his recent 2025 Rei Jaume I prize

06/03/2025
We are so happy for this last recognition for our research group coordinator, Prof. Mascareñas. Such a well deserved honour!

Prof. José Luis Mascareñas, PI of MetBioCat and research group coordinator, has been awarded the 2025 Rei Jaume I prize for Basic Research — one of Spain’s most prestigious scientific distinctions. The award recognizes his pioneering contributions at the interface of organometallic chemistry and cellular biology, particularly his efforts to carry out metal-catalyzed reactions inside living cells

The Rei Jaume I prizes are presented annually by the Valencian Foundation for Advanced Studies and the regional government of Valencia. Candidates are nominated by experts and assessed by an international jury that, in this edition, included over 20 Nobel Laureates — five of whom specifically reviewed submissions in the Basic Research category. With 38 candidates competing for the award this year, the selection process was highly competitive.

The 2025 Rei Jaume I prizes also recognized Jan Eeckhout (Economics), Núria López-Bigas (Medical Research), Silvia de San José Llongueras (Clinical Research and Public Health), Victoria Reyes García (Environmental Protection), María Jesús Vicent D’Ocón (New Technologies), and Damià Tormo Carulla (Entrepreneurship). This year’s edition was notable for its strong representation of women across several categories.




Many many congrats, José Luis!!





External link: https://fprj.es/mascarenas-eeckhout-lopez-bigas-reyes-vicent-tormo-y-de-sanjose-son-los-premiados-de-la-37-edicion/

Another Angewandte paper for 2025, this time with A. Arribas as first author and F. López as corresponding, is already available on-line

05/27/2025
We're so happy to share our second ACIE manuscript for 2025 has been accepted, and it's now available through the publisher website

We are really pleased to announce here that our most recent research article at Angew. Chem Int. Ed., entitled "Iridium-Catalyzed Enantioselective Intramolecular Hydroarylation of Allenes: Formal Synthesis of (+)-Rhazinilam" and authored by A. Arribas, A. Rey, M. Calvelo, J. L. Mascareñas and F. López, has been accepted and it's already on-line (gold Open Access).

Abstract: We report a versatile, highly enantioselective intramolecular hydroarylation of allenyl-tethered pyrroles and indoles. The reaction, promoted by an iridium(I)/bisphosphine chiral catalyst, provides a direct access heteropolycyclic systems bearing either tertiary or quaternary carbon stereocenters and a synthetically appealing alkenyl pendant. The method allows a highly efficient assembly of five-, six- and even seven-membered fused indole and pyrrole products, providing enantiomeric excesses of up to 99%. DFT computational studies align nicely with the experimental results and allow to rationalize the key factors that control both regio- and stereoselectivity of the process. Finally, the synthetic potential of the method was exemplified with a very short, highly enantioselective formal synthesis of (+)-Rhazinilam



External link: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.202508252

CiQUS stands out at the prestigious Bürgenstock Conference

05/15/2025
Prof. José Luis Mascareñas, our group leader, served as Scientific President of the 2025 Bürgenstock Conference

José Luis Mascareñas, CiQUS researcher and former Scientific Director, served as Scientific President of the 2025 Bürgenstock Conference —becoming only the third Spanish scientist to hold this position in the six-decade history of the event. His role is particularly significant given the unique and highly selective character of the conference, which gathers each year around 140 participants in a secluded setting to discuss cutting-edge and often unpublished research across the molecular sciences. Among the invited plenary lecturers, in addition to the opening by Nobel Laureate David MacMillan; Erick Carreira, editor-in-chief of JACS; Andreas Pfaltz, pioneer in asymmetric catalysis and former Bürgenstock President; and Hagan Bayley, one of the inventors of DNA sequencing.


External link: https://www.usc.es/ciqus/en/news/ciqus-stands-out-prestigious-burgenstock-conference

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Another collaborative paper for 2025, this time at ACS Catalysis, is already available on-line

05/10/2025
We're really pleased to share our most recent collaborative manuscript has been accepted, and it's now available through the publisher website

We are so happy to announce here that our collaborative research article at ACS Catal., entitled "Streamlined Identification of Metallopeptides for Intracellular Catalysis Using Positionally Addressable Combinatorial Libraries" and authored by C. González-González, L. Martínez-Castro, S. Learte-Aymamí, C. Pose-Insua, J. R. Couceiro, P. Martin-Malpartida, M. J. Macias, J.-D. Maréchal, J. L. Mascareñas and M. E. Vázquez, has been accepted and it's already on-line as a Gold-OA paper.

Abstract: The discovery and development of artificial catalysts to carry out bioorthogonal reactions in living cells is a primary goal at the interface of Chemistry and Biology. Current approaches rely on time-consuming trial-and-error methods. As an alternative, we show that positionally addressable combinatorial libraries (SPOT libraries) provide a significant advantage for the efficient identification of novel catalytic metallopeptides. Using these libraries, we were able to rapidly identify catalytic β-hairpin palladopeptides capable of promoting efficient depropargylation reactions in challenging intracellular environments.



External link: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acscatal.5c00525

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Synthetic models in Chemical Biology

06/21/2025
Workshop on Nanomedicine 2012. Prof. Mascareñas, ERC - Advanced Grant METBIOCAT, explains his research lines in the chemical biology field.
DNA is the key macromolecule used by nature to store the genetic information, therefore containing all the instructions that control the day-to-day function of cells. As such, it has been a traditional target for the development of different type of drugs, particularly anticancer agents. These drugs include alkylating agents, like cis-platinum and derivatives, and non-covalent binders like the anthracyclines, which interact to DNA by intercalation between base pairs. There are other types of cytotoxic non-covalent DNA binders, like distamycin or propamidine, which interact to DNA by insertion in the minor groove.

We have been interested in this latter type of molecules, because they are sequence selective and therefore provide for molecular engineering of site-specific DNA-promoted processes. In particular, we have designed and synthesized a number of variants of propamidine that work as sequence specific DNA optical sensors, or as light-activated prodrugs.

Some of the knowledge acquired in the studies of light-promoted processes has been extended to area of DNA-protein interactions. In particular, we have developed a chemical approach to control the DNA interaction of synthetic mimics of transcription factors, and expect that the tactic can be used in the future to regulate processes of gene expression.
Part of our work in this area is also focused to the construction of optical sensors that can detect minute amounts of transcription factors considered as oncogenic biomarkers, like the bZIP protein Jun.
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JOSÉ LUIS MASCAREÑAS, PhD
Principal investigator

Meet our team

José Luis Mascareñas, PhD leads this team of researchers. Find out more about him and the rest of the team in our Group members section.

Group Members

Join Us

We are always looking forward to welcoming exceptional candidates into our research Group. Please visit our Opportunities section or send us your cv.

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Living and working in
Santiago de Compostela

Are you new to the city and its University?
We have gathered some facts and figures you may find interesting.

15ºC

Annual mean temperature. The humid oceanic climate guarantees mild weather throughout the year.

33,000

Students attend the University. With the city population around 100,000.

500

Year old University. Currently imparting more than 60 degrees.

Connected

Santiago is well connected, having its own international airport, train station, etc.

Heritage

Amongst many awards, Santiago was declared World Heritage City by UNESCO in 1985.

Galicia

Santiago de Compostela is the capital of Galicia de most Nortwestern region of Spain.

Transport

Public transport is available in order to get around the city, which is also conveniently located to visit other sites in Galicia.

Language

Spanish and Galician are the two official languages of Galicia. Your work will be carried out in English.

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