Bioimaging, Bioconjugation, Structural Studies and Therapeutic Applications Involving Small Molecules, Peptides and Oligonucleotides
Universitat de Barcelona Faculty of Chemistry (IBUB)
Universitat de Barcelona
Faculty of Chemistry (IBUB)
V. Marchán:
vmarchan@ub.edu; +34934021249
ORDID ID: 0000-0002-1905-2156
Researcher ID: K-9751-2014
http://www.qo.ub.edu/personals/vmarchan/ca/
A. Grandas:
anna.grandas@ub.edu; +34934021263
ORDID ID: 0000-0001-6517-401818
Researcher ID: K-6419-2014
http://www.qo.ub.edu/personals/agrandas/ca/
Group members: • Dr. Vicente Marchán • Prof. Anna Grandas • Prof. Enrique Pedroso • Dra. Núria Escaja
Current
Research
The group aims to develop novel chemical tools based on small compounds and biomolecules (peptides, oligonucleotides, etc.) for bioimaging, structural studies and therapy applications. In particular, the group members research presently focuses on the following topics:
– Development of novel targeted delivery strategies for metal-based anticancer drugs, either classical or photoactivatable, with the aim of reducing the low selectivity and high toxicity of current platinum chemotherapeutic agents
– Synthesis and bioimaging applications of novel coumarin-based fluorophores with absorption and emission in the optical window of biological tissues (far-red to NIR region). Development of novel caging groups and investigation of their potential applications in photopharmacology
– Development of novel ligand targeted imaging agents for intraoperative cancer detection and fluorescence-guided surgery
– Biophysical and structural studies of non-canonical nucleic acids structures. Insights into i-motifs: improving stability and searching for specific ligands
– Preparation of peptide and oligonucleotide conjugates, including double derivatizations, using biomolecule-compatible click reactions
– Synthesis of ligands designed to interact with U·U and C·U mismatches and to target RNAs with (CUG) and (CCUG) expansions and polypyrimidine tracts, and biophysical studies.
Selected
Publications
– Gandioso, A.; Bresoli-Obach, R.; Nin-Hill, A.; Bosch, M.; Palau, M.; Galindo, A.; Contreras, S.; Rovira, A.; Rovira, C.; Nonell, S.; Marchán, V. Redesigning the coumarin scaffold into small bright fluorophores with far-red to NIR emission and large Stokes’ shifts useful for cell imaging. J. Org. Chem. 83:1185-1195, 2018. doi: 10.1021/acs.joc.7b02660
– Mir, B.; Serrano, I.; Buitrago, D.; Orozco, M.; Escaja, N.; Gonzalez, C. Prevalent sequences in the human genome can form mini i-motif structures at physiological pH. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 139:13985-13988, 2017. doi:10.1021/jacs.7b07383.
– Novohradsky, V.; Zamora, A.; Gandioso, A.; Brabec, V.; Ruiz, J.; Marchán, V. Somatostatin receptor-targeted organometallic iridium(III) complexes as novel theranostic agents. Chem. Commun. 53:5523-5526, 2017. doi: 10.1039/C7CC01946G.
– Brun, O.; Agramunt, J.; Raich, L.; Rovira, C.; Pedroso, E.; Grandas, Selective derivatization of N-terminal cysteines using cyclopentenediones. Org. Lett. 18:4836, 2016. doi10.1021/acs.orglett.6b02301.
– Sánchez, A.; Pedroso, E.; Grandas, A. Maleimide-dimethylfuran exo adducts: Effective maleimide protection in the synthesis of oligonucleotide conjugates. Org. Lett. 13:4364-4367, 2011. doi: 10.1021/ol201690b
