Abstract
Metal complexes are increasingly used for biological applications, as metal-centered probes for imaging or as metal-based drugs. To be active a metal complex must reach its biological target that can be buried in cells. Intracellular quantification, speciation of the metal cation, and intracellular distribution through imaging, as well as the evaluation of the activity directly in a cellular environment are key steps in the design and study of metallo-active bio-molecules.
In this talk, we will show how cellular models can be designed to evaluate the activity of metal-based anti-oxidants mimicking the anti-oxidant and cell-protective proteins, superoxide dismutases (SOD). Such Mn-complexes reproducing the activity of SOD are called SOD-mimics. Most of the metal complexes studied in the literature for their bio-activity are used as anti-cancer or anti-bacterial agents, and, because of that, most of the corresponding bio-analyses are focusing on toxic effects. In contrast, anti-oxidants and SOD mimics are meant to restore normal functioning of cells by limiting oxidative stress. Specific non-routine strategies are thus required to characterize their bio-activity. Imaging is also key to the full understanding of the bio-properties of any drug and specific techniques can be used to image these metallo-drugs. Other applications of imaging using metal-metal-based probes will also be presented. More specifically, probes made of a central metal-CO core, called SCoMPIs (for single core multimodal probes for imaging), can be mapped using unconventional imaging techniques such as IR and X-fluorescence imaging.
These topics have been chosen to exemplify a range of approaches at this new frontier in inorganic chemistry.
Biography
Clotilde Policar a professor in bio-inorganic chemistry at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris. After completing a Ph.D. at Paris-Sud 11 and Paris 5 universities focused on mimics of a metalloprotein, Professor Policar worked as a post-doctoral fellow on high-field electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy to characterize complexes mimicking the Mn cluster from the oxygen evolving center in the photosystem II. She was then appointed an assistant professor at Paris-Sud 11, where she developed Mn-complexes that mimick the anti-oxidant protein manganese superoxide-dismutase (SOD).
Since 2008, she has a professorship at the Ecole Normale Supérieure, where she has set up a thematic group in inorganic cellular and biological chemistry. Her main current interest focuses, on the one hand, on the design and evaluation in cells of metal complexes mimicking metalloenzymes such as SOD. On the other hand, her group has initiated work on a new topic with the development of metal-based probes, including metal–carbonyl as multimodal bioprobes that they validate as efficient IR-probe for bio-imaging.
Clotilde Policaris a current editorial board member of the Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry, a former advisory board member for the ACS Inorganic Chemistry. As the dean of the studies at the chemistry department, she recently supervised a renewal of the curriculum (third and fourth years) and wishes to promote international exchanges. The chemistry department has welcomed students from ICL for now more than five years (from the Chemistry-French program), and students from ENS have been interns at ICL, in a very fruitful exchange.She is also DAS (deputy science director) at the institute of chemistry (INC) of CNRS involved in the development of interdisciplinarity.
About IMSE
The Institute for Molecular Science and Engineering (IMSE) is one of Imperial College London’s Global Institutes, drawing on the strength of its four faculties to address some of the grand challenges facing the world today. The Institute’s activities are focused on tackling problems where molecular innovation plays an important role.
The Highlight Seminar Series brings eminent speakers from across the globe to Imperial to increase awareness of areas where molecular science and engineering can make a valuable contribution and to promote exchanges with academic and industrial centres of excellence.