Overview

Research in the Kodanko laboratory is at the interface of organic, inorganic and medicinal chemistry. We are interested in harnessing the power of metal complexes for biological applications. Projects currently being conducted in the Kodanko laboratory span across many subdisciplines of chemistry research including organic and inorganic synthesis, catalysis, kinetic and mechanistic studies, coordination chemistry, enzyme inhibition and cell biology. Recent interests have focused on the development of light-activated compounds for biological research applications, and as potential therapeutics.

Photoactivated Chemical Probes and Therapeutics

A major focus of the Kodanko laboratory is to develop new molecules that can be activated with light. In this method enzyme inhibitors or other bioactive compounds are caged and released with light, leading to high levels of selectivity for enzyme inhibition under light vs. dark conditions. This method provides a novel way to achieve spatial and kinetic control over enzyme activity for chemical biology and anticancer applications. Recent work from our laboratory proved our method can be applied to inhibitors of the cysteine protease cathepsin B, an enzyme overexpressed in cancer and other human disease states, as well as cytochrome P450 enzymes CYP17A1 and CYP3A4 involved in biosynthesis and human drug metabolism. Compounds that display dual action properties, including photorelease and photosensitization have been applied successfully in cell models of human diseases.

Chemical Biology

 Research in the Kodanko laboratory encompasses chemical synthesis, biochemical and pharmacological characterization and cell biology. Compounds synthesized in the Kodanko laboratory are evaluated in house and by working with collaborators to characterize their activity in various cell model of human diseases. Recent effort have focused on characterizing Ru(II) complexes that show photorelease and photosensitization properties that are activated by light to induce cell death in cancer cells, photochemotherapy agents for cancer, and emissive probes for enzymes. Experimental techniques commonly employed by researchers in the Kodanko laboratory include enzyme inhibition and cell viability assays, cellular imaging and flow cytometry. These techniques are used to study how our compounds act in cells and elicit cell death, either alone or in combination with other chemotherapeutics.