Laboratory of Multidisciplinary Applied Chemistry

Our aim is to design and synthesize functionally versatile molecules for a wide range of applications. Through molecular design and advanced organic synthesis, we can tailor the compounds to achieve specific properties and functionalities.

The molecules we develop are thiophene-based conjugated systems, characterized by alternating single and double bonds. This conjugation gives rise to intrinsic fluorescence and tunable optical properties. Through chemical modification, such as the introduction of diverse functional groups, heterocycles, chiral moieties or donor-acceptor-donor motifs, we can precisely alter the molecules’ photophysical and electronic properties. By combining synthetic chemistry with molecular design, we aim to enable new applications of thiophene-based conjugated molecules at the interface of medicinal chemistry and materials science.

Neuroscience

Aggregated forms of different peptides and proteins are a classical hallmark of many neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer´s and Parkinson´s disease. Ligands that target these pathological entities are vital, since such agents can be used to reveal the role of these aggregates during the pathogenesis of the diseases, as well as for generating pharmaceutical inventions that can be used for both accurate diagnostic and treatment of these severe diseases. In this regard, we are developing optoelectronic ligands that can be used to detect and distinguish different disease-associated protein aggregates by fluorescence microscopy. These ligands have been a game changer within the field, since several of our ligands have been used to assign protein aggregates that go undetected by conventional ligands, as well as for exploring the shape-shifting polymorphic nature of the protein aggregates during the pathogenesis. Moreover, we are also merging our ligands with agents that can stimulate clearance of disease-associated protein aggreagtes by our bodies’ own cellular machinery or immune system with the aim of generating the next generation of theranostic, combined therapeutic and diagnostic, agents for combating neurodegenerative diseases.

Bacterial Infection

Bacterial biofilms are structured communities of bacteria embedded in a self-produced matrix composed of aggerated proteins and carbohydrates on surfaces (implants, tissues), causing 75-80% of human infections. Bacteria in these communities exhibit more resistance to antibiotics, while also evading the immune system and causing chronic, hard-to-treat infections. Thus, it is vital to develop agents that target the bacteria or the biofilm components both from a diagnostic and therapeutic perspective. In this regard, we have developed optoelectronic ligands that can be utilized to detect different bacteria, as well as distinct biofilm components, by fluorescence spectroscopy and microscopy. In addition, we are also merging these ligands with known agents that can kill the bacteria, or remove the biofilm components, with the aim of generating the next generation of theranostic, combined therapeutic and diagnostic, agents for treating bacterial infections.

Carbohydrates

By combining our expertise in molecular design and synthesis with our experience in developing tools for molecular biology, diagnostics, and therapeutics, we have also designed optoelectronic molecules for optical tracing of different carbohydrates in plants and wood. These tracers can be utilized to reveal novel findings in plant biology, serve as novel sensing techniques for the pulp industry, and to assign different components in algae and other types of biomasses used to generate new green materials from renewable natural resources.

Chiral Materials

Chiral materials are structures, molecules, or assemblies, that cannot be superimposed on their mirror images. Molecules exhibiting this "handedness" (left- or right-handed) are crucial in biology as living organisms utilize specific chiral forms, such as L-amino acids and D-sugars, for structural organization, metabolism, and molecular recognition. Likewise, in our research, we are designing chiral optoelectronic molecules and self-assembled materials that can be used in optoelectronic devices, such as solar cells or light emitting diodes, as well as in biosensing applications. Thus, by mimicking nature we are generating a novel class of innovative chiral materials with unique optoelectronic and architectonic properties that might be useful for a variety of applications.