BIST Colloquium Series 2021-22
Molecular basis for the use of light in medicine
by Wiktor Szymanski, Medical Imaging Center, University Medical Center Groningen
Abstract
Light is a unique control element in chemistry and biology, because it can be safely delivered with very high precision to modulate processes in space and time. In this educational lecture, aimed at Master students but hopefully of interest to all academics, I will discuss the main processes that a molecule can undergo once it has been promoted to the excited state under light irradiation. Using the Jablonski diagram as the starting point, I will outline how these processes are or could be used in the clinic for diagnostics (optical and optoacoustic imaging) and therapy (photodynamic therapy and photopharmacology).
Bio
Wiktor Szymanski received his PhD degree from The Warsaw University of Technology, Poland, in 2008, working under the supervision of Prof. Ryszard Ostaszewski. He spent two years working on the use of biotransformations in organic chemistry with Prof. Ben L. Feringa and Prof. Dick B. Janssen at the University of Groningen. Since 2010 he has been working on the construction of photoactive protein- peptide- and DNA-bioconjugates and photopharmacology in the Feringa Labs. In 2014, he joined the Medical Imaging Center, University Medical Center Groningen, where he was appointed in 2015 as tenure track assistant professor and in 2019 as associate professor (adjunct hoogleraar).
This colloquium is part of the BIST Master of Multidisciplinary Research in Experimental Sciences curriculum but is also open and free for anyone interested in participating. If you want to assist please send an email to education@bist.eu
Next colloquia will be:
May 2 – Gijs Wuyte of Vrije Universiteit of Amsterdam, Netherlands
June 13 – Tjonnie Li of KU Leuven, The Netherlands
– Teodoro Laino of IBM Research Europe, Switzerland