Professor Eszter Boros (University of Wisconsin-Minnesota)

Date and Time

March 4, 2026
04:00PM - 05:30PM EST

Location

MIT

Talk title: Catch and Release: Harnessing the Chemistry of Radioactive Metal Ions to Develop Next Generation Metal-based Medicines

Abstract: Coordination chemistry enables us to transform short-lived, radiometal aqua-ions into tools for non-invasive, diagnostic imaging and disease-targeted radiotherapy for cancers. I will discuss our recent efforts in designing next-generation agents by employing rate-tunable, metal-mediated amide bond cleavage (rTMAC) of trivalent, transition-metal ions and metalloids. Specifically, I will describe how mechanistic understanding allows us to harness reactivity for in situ radiometal separation, pharmacokinetic tuning and timed drug-release. Finally, I will demonstrate how we can adapt rTMAC to rare earth metal ions by rational ligand design.