Research Gilles Gasser

The main concept of the research undertaken in our group is to understand, identify and/or influence biological processes in living cells using metal complexes. This endeavour has recently been referred to as Inorganic Chemical Biology. Our research therefore lies at the interface between inorganic chemistry, chemical biology and biology.
	To achieve our aims, we are notably using a non-natural DNA/RNA analogue, Peptide Nucleic Acid (PNA). In PNAs, the usual phosphate-ribose backbone of DNA/RNA is replaced by a neutral pseudo-peptide backbone made of N-(2-aminoethyl)glycine units, which are ligated, via a methylene carbonyl, to the four nucleobases (see Figure 1 for a structure comparison between DNA and PNA). PNAs have high binding affinity for DNA/RNA strands, high chemical stability, resistance to nucleases, great discrimination of single mismatches and fast hybridization. These attractive characteristics have enabled PNAs to be investigated for biosensing purposes and as agents in antisense- and antigene therapy (Figure 2) .
Figure 1. Structure comparison between DNA and PNA.
Figure 2. Antisense and Antigene strategies using PNAs.
Our group aims to combine the remarkable properties of PNAs with those of specific metal complexes/organometallic compounds! We are particularly interested in preparing new multi-metal-containing PNA bioconjugates.