Young Researcher Award and Poster Prize for the Clever Lab
- Neues aus der Fakultät 2021
Dr. Lukas Stratmann, member of the group of Prof. Guido Clever, was awarded a Young Researcher Prize at the 4th CRC1093 International Symposium "Supramolecular Chemistry meets Biology" at University Duisburg-Essen for an outstanding publication (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 4939) within the field of the symposium's topics.
G-quadruplexes are special DNA secondary structures with proven biological relevance that represent promising drug targets in medicinal chemistry. They show a high topological diversity and tend to form higher-order structures such as dimers, which are difficult to detect in solution.
In the recent study, Stratmann was able to incorporate rigid Cu(II) complexes as spin lables into the secondary DNA structures. An interdisciplinary collaboration with the laboratory of Jun-Prof. Müge Kasanmascheff allowed then to measure intermolecular distances with unprecedented precision in spin-labeled G-quadruplex dimers and their adducts with drug-like G-quadruplex-binding ligands.
Dr. Irene Regeni, also member of the group of Prof. Clever, follows a different approach to detect G-quadruplex dimers. She exploits the characteristic interaction of dye-based metallo-supramolecular helicates (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2021, 60, 5673) with the dimers which can be detected with chiroptical methods.
For the presentation of her latest results at the CRC1093 international meeting, Regeni was awarded a Poster Prize.
