Katherine Franz

Professor Katherine Franz, Duke University. Conditional Surrender:  Designing Molecules to Put Biological Metals in Their Place.  Harvard/MIT Inorganic Chemistry Seminar. 

Metal ions are required nutrients for many organisms but also potential toxins. The distribution networks of inorganic elements are therefore strategic battlegrounds in a wide range of diseases, including neurodegeneration, cancer, and infection. Metal chelators are attractive agents for readjusting cellular metal loads, but targeting a specific metal ion at the exclusion of others and without inhibiting metalloproteins can be challenging.  Furthermore, because ligands influence the chemical properties of their coordinated metals, chelating agents used intracellularly can alter not only the location but also the reactivity of metals, especially iron, copper and zinc.  In this talk, I will present our efforts to develop chelating agents that can be triggered by specific stimuli to change their metal binding capacity and reactivity.  In particular, we will discuss prochelators that are activated by either hydrogen peroxide or light to bind iron and copper and thereby influence cell survival.