The project is called “OLIREG” and the purpose is to exploit hybridization between oligonucleotides to regulate the function of small molecule prodrugs and proteins.

In the proposed project, Gothelf and his team will prepare oligonucleotide conjugates with either protein or small molecule toxins in a way that inactivate the toxin. By subsequent hybridization of the oligonucleotide conjugate to a complementary oligonucleotide the conjugate is activated. It is a fundamental study of the activation mechanism, however, in turn this artificial regulatory mechanism may have applications for development of a new class of encoded drugs that only become active in cells expressing disease-specific RNA sequences.

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Kurt Gothelf (45) completed his PhD at Aarhus University in 1995 and was appointed as a professor (MSO) in 2007. In 2012 he was granted the title professor in organic chemistry. He has been the Director of the Danish National Research Foundation: Centre for DNA Nanotechnology since 2007 and he is the Coordinator of the European School of DNA Nanotechnology, Marie Curie Initial Training Network under FP7.

For more information, please contact

Kurt Gothelf
iNANO
Aarhus University
kvg@chem.au.dk
+45 60202725