Light is an unique tool to understand the underlying principles of the biological processes. Light allows us to address the questions where, when and to what extent a biological process is started or stopped to decipherer the sophisticated biological networks.Therefore, photo-responsive molecules have a significant impact in chemical biology.
Herein, we will present the current advances of our young group in the synthesis and application of light-sensitive molecules as chemical biology tools.
Olalla Vázquez obtained her PhD in Organic Chemistry (2010; Summa cum Laude) under the supervision of Prof. Mascareñas and Prof. Vázquez at Universidade de Santiago de Compostela. As graduated student, Olalla worked on artificial transcription factors, and visited Prof. Verdine (2006) at Harvard University and Prof. Seitz (2008) at Humboldt Universität zu Berlin. Afterwards, she returned to Prof. Seitz and explored RNA-templated reactions for cancer therapy, as Marie Curie postdoctoral fellow (2010-2014). Since 2014 she is Assistant Professor at Philipps Universität Marburg. Her independent research focuses on the development of innovative optochemical tools combining organic chemistry and biochemistry. During her whole career path Olalla has received several awards and honors including European Young Chemist Award (2012), Fulbright-Cottrell Award (2016), Next Generation Optogenetics Award (2017).
Twitter account: @OlallaLab