Krishna Saxena

Krishna Saxena

SGC Frankfurt

Saxena

Krishna Saxena

Affiliations

Biography

Krishna Saxena joined the SGC Frankfurt July 2020. Krishna studied Biochemistry in Frankfurt (Germany) followed by a PhD (1999) in heterologous expression of membrane proteins at the Institute of Biochemistry (Frankfurt). Then, he was leading a molecular biology and protein expression group for a collaboration between Aventis Research & Technologies and the Goethe University (1999-2001), later MRPharm (2001-2002), a biotechnology company spin out of Frankfurt University and shortly part of Affinium Pharmaceuticals. The focus of his work became structure-based drug discovery by NMR spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction. From 2003-2011, he was working as a group leader (collaboration Sanofi and Goethe University) to study the family of protein kinases and subsequently to investigate biomedically relevant protein-protein interactions (PPIs) with focus on the modulation of such interactions by low molecular weight ligands guided by NMR technology. Since 2012, he has worked in the drug development platform at the DKTK German Cancer Consortium and for several industrial collaborations.

2025

Crystallographic fragment screening reveals ligand hotspots in TRIM21 PRY-SPRY domain.

Kim Y, Lučić A, Lenz C, Farges F, Schwalm MP, Saxena K, Hanke T, Marples PG, Aschenbrenner JC, Fearon D, von Delft F, Krämer A, Knapp S

Commun Chem. 2025-6-14 . 8(1):185 .doi: 10.1038/s42004-025-01574-3

PMID: 40514378

2024

Critical assessment of LC3/GABARAP ligands used for degrader development and ligandability of LC3/GABARAP binding pockets.

Schwalm MP, Dopfer J, Kumar A, Greco FA, Bauer N, Löhr F, Heering J, Cano-Franco S, Lechner S, Hanke T, Jaser I, Morasch V, Lenz C, Fearon D, Marples PG, Tomlinson CWE, Brunello L, Saxena K, Adams NBP, von Delft F, Müller S, Stolz A, Proschak E, Kuster B, Knapp S, Rogov VV

Nat Commun. 2024-11-26 . 15(1):10204 .doi: 10.1038/s41467-024-54409-5

PMID: 39587067

Back-Pocket Optimization of 2-Aminopyrimidine-Based Macrocycles Leads to Potent EPHA2/GAK Kinase Inhibitors.

Gerninghaus J, Zhubi R, Krämer A, Karim M, Tran DHN, Joerger AC, Schreiber C, Berger LM, Berger BT, Ehret TAL, Elson L, Lenz C, Saxena K, Müller S, Einav S, Knapp S, Hanke T

J Med Chem. 2024-7-19 . .doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.4c00411

PMID: 39028937

A C-Degron Structure-Based Approach for the Development of Ligands Targeting the E3 Ligase TRIM7.

Muñoz Sosa CJ, Lenz C, Hamann A, Farges F, Dopfer J, Krämer A, Cherkashyna V, Tarnovskiy A, Moroz YS, Proschak E, Němec V, Müller S, Saxena K, Knapp S

ACS Chem Biol. 2024-6-27 . .doi: 10.1021/acschembio.4c00301

PMID: 38934237

Back-pocket optimization of 2-aminopyrimidine-based macrocycles leads to potent dual EPHA2/GAK kinase inhibitors with antiviral activity.

Gerninghaus J, Zhubi R, Kraemer A, Karim M, Tran DHN, Joerger AC, Schreiber C, Berger LM, Berger BT, Ehret TAL, Elson L, Lenz C, Saxena K, Mueller S, Einav S, Knapp S, Hanke T

bioRxiv. 2024-2-18 . .doi: 10.1101/2024.02.18.580805

PMID: 38405908

2023

Tracking the PROTAC degradation pathway in living cells highlights the importance of ternary complex measurement for PROTAC optimization.

Schwalm MP, Krämer A, Dölle A, Weckesser J, Yu X, Jin J, Saxena K, Knapp S

Cell Chem Biol. 2023-6-20 . .doi: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2023.06.002

PMID: 37354907

NMR resonance assignment of a fibroblast growth factor 8 splicing isoform b.

Hargittay B, Mineev KS, Richter C, Sreeramulu S, Jonker HRA, Saxena K, Schwalbe H

Biomol NMR Assign. 2023-4-29 . .doi: 10.1007/s12104-023-10132-8

PMID: 37118562

2022

A Toolbox for the Generation of Chemical Probes for Baculovirus IAP Repeat Containing Proteins.

Schwalm MP, Berger LM, Meuter MN, Vasta JD, Corona CR, Röhm S, Berger BT, Farges F, Beinert SM, Preuss F, Morasch V, Rogov VV, Mathea S, Saxena K, Robers MB, Müller S, Knapp S

Front Cell Dev Biol. 2022-6-21 . 10:886537 .doi: 10.3389/fcell.2022.886537

PMID: 35721509