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Research Group URL
Recent Publications |
Dirk Trauner
Associate Professor of Chemistry
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Email: trauner@berkeley.edu
Office: 602 Latimer
Lab: 610,613,626 and 628 Latimer |
Phone: (510) 643-5507
Fax:
Lab Phone: (510) 642-5324 |
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Research Interests:
Organic and Bioorganic Chemistry — Total
synthesis of bioactive natural products,
synthetic methodology, molecular
machines, and chemical neurobiology
Our research centers on the total
synthesis of complex natural products
and rationally designed molecular probes
and their application to biological
problems, especially in neuroscience.
A large part of our research program
is dedicated to the synthesis and biological
evaluation of natural products - that
is biologically active metabolites
with relatively low molecular weights.
We are convinced that the majority
of natural products have not yet been
found and that a wealth of interesting
chemistry and biology awaits discovery.
As synthetic organic chemists, we are
intrigued by the structural beauty
and functional sophistication of natural
products. Through the power of total
synthesis, we gain insight into their
structure/activity relationships and
biosynthetic origin. In addition, the
total synthesis of complex natural
products provides an ideal platform
for the invention or discovery of new
synthetic methodology or the validation
of modern reactions in a complex environment.
Along with our studies on natural
products, we are concerned with the
chemical biology of neural systems.
Neuroscience is indeed one of the most
exciting scientific frontiers of our
time. As its molecular foundation becomes
established, this field is currently
undergoing the same transformation
that has propelled genetics to the
forefront of science and has ultimately
led to the elucidation of the human
genome. Until recently, progress in
the neurosciences has been hampered
by a lack of structural understanding
of the basic components that underlie
the function of excitable cells: the
ionotropic receptors, i.e. ion channels,
and the metabotropic receptors, i.e.
G-protein coupled receptors. With the
emergence of the first X-ray crystal
structures of these proteins, this
situation has changed dramatically
and neurobiology is bound to mature
into a truly molecular science. We
believe that the time has come for
organic chemists, who have a keen understanding
of structure and mechanism and the
ability to synthesize complex molecules,
to make an impact on this field. Our
current focus lies on the functional
reengineering of ion channels by attaching
synthetic switches that respond to
a diverse array of input signals. These
manipulated ion channels can be inserted
into excitable cells, e.g. neurons,
and can render them sensitive to new
stimuli, e.g. light.
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Biography:
Associate
Professor. Born 1967. "Diplom" Freie
Universität Berlin, Germany, 1994.
Ph.D., Organic Chemistry, University
of Vienna, Austria, 1997. Postdoctoral
Fellow, Sloan-Kettering Institute for
Cancer Research, New York, 1998-2000. |
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