Professor Dirk Trauner of the University of Pennsylvania

"Ion Channels as an Inspiration for Synthetic Chemists"

Neuropharmacology continues to drive new developments in chemistry and biology. I will exemplify this with a new synthesis of Tetrodotoxin (TTX), which targets voltage-gated sodium channels, that can deliver the neurotoxin in 22 steps and on a useful scale. I will also make the case that “Proximity photopharmacology” is a partcularly effective strategy to control the fate and function of proteins, with an emphasis on ion channels and GPCRs and applications in neuroscience. In particular, I will address efforts to restore vision in humans with photoswitchable use-dependent ion channels blockers.