Metallobiology of Iron and Ferroptosis
Iron is the key catalytic element in organisms, playing key roles in respiration, enzyme conversions and many other functions. A hallmark of biological iron metabolism is the “double-edged sword” property, referring to how iron is very useful when properly managed, but harmful when in excess, when weakly bound or mislocated. We are creating peptide-based tools…
Probing Iron Metabolism and Ferroptosis
With the development of iron-selective, mitochondria targeting probes, we will be able to indicate the presence of iron through fluorescence as well as sequester iron with a chelator. The idea is both the fluorophore and chelator would exist on the same moiety to optimize efficiency in synthesis and mito-studies. Peptides modeled after the Szeto-Schiller (SS) family were found to be optimal for targeting to the mitochondria due to their amphiphilic properties.
Fluorescent Ratiometric Metal Ion Sensors
In a project to study new sensor methodologies for environmentally significant metals, we investigate the design, synthesis and speciation of nitrogen or sulfur-based ligands...
Ligands for Radioisotopes
We study design and synthesis of strongly chelating ligands for radiometals such as copper and zirconium. More info available on request!