Bioorthogonal chemistry, already a workhorse of drug discovery research, prepares for the leap into human testing.
Researchers at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York are preparing the first test in humans of a new type of diagnostic that combines a radioisotope and antibody via bioorthogonal ‘click’ chemistry. The trial is expected to be a proof of principle of the clinical potential of bioorthogonal chemistry—reactions that can be performed in living systems without interfering with the surrounding biology.