Research at the interface of bioinorganic chemistry and chemical biology
INORGANIC PLATFORMS FOR MEDICAL IMAGING
We are interested in exploiting the unique properties of metal ions to develop new compounds with applications in medical diagnostics. Current interests include using transition and lanthanide metal ion complexes for the development of Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)-based sensors that will enable the detection of different biological environments including different cellular redox environments and small biological analytesincluding metal ions, protons (pH), etc. Redox-active metal complexes and lanthanide complexes are being used to make relaxation and chemical shift-based sensors respectively.
Current lab members: Raphael Ryan, Dan Cooke, Katie Scott, Edith Amason
CHEMICAL TOOLS FOR STUDYING CELLULAR METAL ION HOMEOSTASIS
Metals, including Na, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn, Cu among many others, are essential in all organisms and cells in order to maintain proper functionality. These metals are present in both tightly bound pools in metalloproteins and in labile pools (loosely bound). In order to study how these pools change in different cellular environments, we are developing a number of small molecule tools that will help us probe both types of metal ion pools. Current interests in the lab include the development of chemical tools to study metalloenzymes using imaging and proteomics approaches.