Carl Henrik Gørbitz, Ute Krengel
Department of Chemistry, UiO
Crystal engineering
Biomarker identification
Protein crystallography
Molecules
H2
ethane
sucrose
Molecules
Molecules
Crystal
Crystal
”Crystal engineering”, we make a supermolecule!
Building blocks
node
linker
Problem 1
Molecules are very small, hard to
put together one by one
Xe-atoms on Ni-surface
(Don Eigler, 1989)
Problem 2
As they are so small, we must put
together very many before we reach a
macroscopic size
A 1 x 1 x 1 mm sugar crystal
contains 1,4 · 1018 molecules
Building blocks
Building blocks
Glue
Intermolecular forces
Must be:
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strong
Directional
Two main types used in CE:
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Hydrogen bonds
Metal coordination
MOFs
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“Metal-Organic
Frameworks (MOFs) are
crystalline compounds
consisting of metal ions or
clusters coordinated to
often rigid organic
molecules to form one-,
two-, or three-dimensional
structures that can be
porous” (from Wikipedia)
MOF-5
Can we do this without metal ions?
Guanidinium derivatives
Fumaric acid complex
Guanidinium derivatives
DNA-based systems
DNA-based systems
DNA-based systems
Applications
Construction of
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polar materials for non-linear optics
molecular magnets
porous materials for storage
molecular sieves
sensors
molecule traps
biological model systems
catalysts
and much more
Biomarker identification
Biomarker: A biological molecule found in blood,
other body fluids, or tissues that is a sign of a
normal or abnormal process, or of a condition or
disease. A biomarker may be used to see how well
the body responds to a treatment for a disease or
condition. Also called molecular marker and
signature molecule
Present in small amounts = hard to identify
Biomarker identification
Nano-HPLC-system
Group
Lianglin
Lise-Lotte
Carl Henrik
Malgorzata
Fassil
Steven
Ola
Protein crystallography
Structure/Function Studies of
Medically Relevant Systems
Department of Chemistry
University of Oslo
Ute Krengel
Methods
 X-ray crystallography
 Complementary techniques (molecular biology,
protein chemistry, ligand binding studies, cell
biology, molecular docking, organic chemistry)
Targets
 Glycobiological Targets
Mucins
Bacterial Toxins
Bacterial Adhesins
Anti-tumor Antibodies
Mushroom Lectins
 Enzymes
◦ Chorismate mutases
GlycoNor
ProtStruct
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Masters Projects
 Glycobiological Targets:
◦ Bacterial Toxins – Structure and Function
 Investigation of blood group dependence
 Delivery mechanisms?
 Drug design
◦ Anti-tumor Antibodies for Immunotherapy
 Recombinant production, crystallization and
X-ray structure determination
Group
Ute
Øyvind
Dani
Hedda
Daniel
Julie
Dipankar