Selected publications
Clues for glues: from serendipity to nature’s blueprints in degrader discovery (Essays in Biochemistry, 2026)
Z. Kozicka
This review examines how molecular glue degraders redirect protein degradation machinery, highlighting the molecular features that make proteins, ligases, and small molecules compatible for induced degradation.
For a full, up to date list of publications see: ORCID
Charged Molecular Glue Discovery Enabled by Targeted Degron Display (Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, 2026)
Z. Zhuang, W. S. Byun, J. Chrustowicz, Z. Kozicka, V. L. Li, D. M. Abeja, K. A. Donovan, S. Sepic, I. You, M. Słabicki, E. S. Fischer, S. M. Hinshaw, B. L. Ebert, B. A. Schulman, N. S. Gray
This work identifies a new chemical strategy for molecular glue discovery, showing that charged small molecules can be used to recruit the GID/CTLH degradation machinery and redirect it to degrade BET-family proteins.
Development of FBXO22 Degraders and the Recruitment Ligand 2-PCA (JACS, 2025)
T. Qiu*, Z. Zhuang*, W. S. Byun*, Z. Kozicka*, K. Baek, J. Zhong, A. M. Thornhill, J. K. Ryan, K. A. Donovan, E. S. Fischer, B. Ebert†, N. Gray†
This study identifies a new chemical handle for the E3 ligase FBXO22, showing how small molecules can either degrade the ligase itself or hijack it to degrade other proteins.
Design principles for cyclin K molecular glue degraders (Nature Chemical Biology, 2023)
Z. Kozicka, D. Suchyta, V. Focht, G. Kempf, G. Petzold, M. Jentzsch, C. Zou, C. Di Genua, K. Donovan, S. Coomar, M. Cigler, C. Mayor-Ruiz, J. Schmid-Burgk, D. Häussinger, G. Winter, E. Fischer, M. Słabicki, D. Gillingham, B, Ebert, N. Thomä
In this manuscript, we delve deep into the unexpected diversity of cyclin K degraders and solve 28 ternary complex crystal structures to understand how structurally dissimilar compounds can bring the same proteins together.
For a short digest, see also: the associated research briefing:
Unravelling molecular glue degrader diversity (Nature Chemical Biology, 2023)
Z. Kozicka, N. Thomä
Prize essay summarising my PhD work on cyclin K degraders:
Gluing the pieces together
(Science, 2023)
Z. Kozicka
Readout of histone methylation by Trim24 locally restricts chromatin opening by p53 (Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, 2023)
L. Isbel, I. Murat, S. Durdu, R. S. Grand, J. Weiss, E. Pfeiffer, Z. Kozicka, A. K. Michael, L. Burger, N. H. Thomä, D. Schübeler
This work looks into how the transcription factor and tumour suppressor p53 is modulated by its chromatin-sensitive cofactor Trim24.
Haven't got a glue: Protein surface variation for the design of molecular glue degraders (Cell Chemical Biology, 2021)
Z. Kozicka, N. Thomä
In this review, we outline a novel conceptual framework for small-molecular degrader compounds and discuss strategies for rational discovery and design of degraders.
The CDK inhibitor CR8 acts as a molecular glue degrader that depletes cyclin K (Nature, 2020)
M. Słabicki*, Z. Kozicka*, G. Petzold*, Y.-D. Li, M. Manojkumar, R. Bunker, K. Donovan, Q. Sievers, J. Koeppel, D. Suchyta, A. Sperling, E. Fink, J. Gasser, L. Wang, S. Corsello, R. Sellar, M. Jan, D. Gillingham, C. Scholl, S. Fröhling, T. Golub, E. Fischer, N. Thomä†, B. Ebert†
(*equal contribution)
In this publication, we describe the discovery of the mode of action of CR8, a kinase inhibitor and a molecular glue degrader of cyclin K, through a target- and ligase-agnostic degrader search.
Rational discovery of molecular glue degraders via scalable chemical profiling (Nature Chemical Biology, 2020)
C. Mayor-Ruiz, S. Bauer, M. Brand, Z. Kozicka, M. Siklos, H. Imrichova, I. Kaltheuner, E. Hahn, K. Seiler, A. Koren, G. Petzold, M. Fellner, C. Bock, A. Muller, J. Zuber, M. Geyer, N. Thomä, S. Kubicek, G. Winter
This publication outlines another method for target- and ligase-agnostic molecular glue degrader search and identifies degraders of RMB39 and cyclin K.
Taking the brakes off targeted protein degradation (Cell Chemical Biology, 2020)
Z. Kozicka, G. Petzold, N. Thomä
In this preview, we profile a paper by Petrilli et al. that describes a proof-of-concept PCSK9 degrader.
Mechanisms of OCT4-SOX2 motif readout on nucleosomes (Science, 2020)
A. Michael*, R. Grant*, L. Isbel*, S. Cavadini, Z. Kozicka, R. Bunker, A. Schenk, A. Graff-Meyer, G. Pathare, J. Weiss, S. Matsumoto, L. Burger, D. Schübeler†, N. Thomä†
This work explores how transcription factors can access their motifs in the context of chromatinized DNA.
Structural mechanism of cGAS inhibition by the nucleosome (Nature, 2020)
G. Pathare, A. Decout, S. Glück, S. Cavadini, K. Makasheva, R. Hovius, G. Kempf, J. Weiss, Z. Kozicka, B. Guey, P. Melenec, B. Fierz, N. Thomä†, A. Ablasser†
This publication outlines the structural basis for why the immune sensor cGas is not activated by nuclear DNA.
