Prof. Dr. Dirk Trauner

Research Priorities: Biochemistry, photopharmacology, chemical synthesis, natural product synthesis
Dirk Trauner is an Austrian-US american chemist and biochemist. His research focuses on the synthesis of biologically active bonds, the chemistry of natural products, and the development of new synthesis methods. He has achieved crucial breakthroughs in the area of photopharmacology in particular. The goal is to use targeted light to activate biologically active substances in the human body. This could be used in cancer treatment and ophthalmology.
The broad objective of Dirk Trauner’s research is to demonstrate the potential of the chemical synthesis of biologically important molecules and to use them to establish synthetic biological pathways. He is especially well known for using light to turn medicinal substances on and off in the human body. Trauner developed the corresponding molecular switches for this. He makes use of the fact that some bonds change their structure when exposed to light. Blue light folds up the long, stretched “switch” into an angled shape, and green light or thermal energy reverses the process. This structural change also alters the molecule into which the switch is built – from an inactive form into an active one and vice versa. The chemical tools he developed are used in neuroscience and cellular biology. They promise both new approaches in precision therapeutics for cancer and diabetes as well as the potential to restore visual function.
Dirk Trauner’s photopharmacological approach is comparatively new. His team works with animal models. Preliminary results indicate that light-controlled medicines could develop a completely new class of therapeutics.