Skip to main content
Merlin Kardaß

Research at the IMC

The Institute of Medicinal Chemistry focusses on providing chemical compound tools to explain mechanisms of pathogenesis as well as identifying and optimizing innovative drug substances.

Our aim is to optimize lead structures to validate novel targets and to develop future medicines, in particular to treat widespread diseases such as diabetes or infectious diseases.

The aim of our research is to explore poorly understood biological processes and to make these accessible for therapeutic purposes. For this we optimize underexploited chemical substance classes according to modern medicinal chemistry criteria to create innovative chemical agents.

The Institute of Medicinal Chemistry focusses on providing chemical compound tools to explain mechanisms of pathogenesis as well as identifying and optimizing innovative drug substances.

Our aim is to optimize lead structures to validate novel targets and to develop future medicines, in particular to treat widespread diseases such as diabetes or infectious diseases.

The aim of our research is to explore poorly understood biological processes and to make these accessible for therapeutic purposes. For this we optimize underexploited chemical substance classes according to modern medicinal chemistry criteria to create innovative chemical agents.

The IMC

The Institute of Medicinal Chemistry was founded in 2016 in cooperation with the Leibniz University of Hannover as a satellite institute of the Helmholtz Centre Munich with the goal of being able to translate the biological research of the centre into chemical space thus enabling translational approaches to clinical drug research.

Due to the strong organic chemical orientation the institute is situated mainly at the Institute of Organic Chemistry (OCI) and the Biomolecular Drug Research Centre (BMWZ) at the Leibniz University Hannover. It contains two professorships: medicinal chemistry (W3) and Cell Based Drug Development (W2; tbd).

Equipment and facilities

The infrastructure of the IMC is embedded into the OCI and BMWZ of the Leibniz University of Hannover. Thus, it has access to modern analytical methods like high resolution mass spectrometry (ESI, APCI and EI in combination with HPLC, GC or the orbitrap method) and several NMR machines as well as modern synthesis equipment (high pressure synthesis reactor, hydrogenation autoclaves, several preparative and analytical LC-MS, preparative and analytical GC-MS).

Additionally, the IMC is equipped with several own LC-MS machines as well as preparative and analytical HPLCs, TLC-MS, a flow hydrogenation apparatus, freeze dryers, a LibertyBlu peptide synthesizer, electrochemical reactors and devices for flow chemistry. The IMC runs S2 cell culture labs with photometers for luminescence assays and cytotoxicity tests.

For early profiling of compounds a variety of assays have been established in house:

  • Chemical stability
  • log P/D determination
  • HSA binding
  • plasma stability
  • metabolic stability (microsomal and HepG2)
  • CaCo2
  • cytotoxicity
  • MIC (ESKAPE panel)

Research Groups

Merlin Kardaß
Plettenburg group

Targeted Delivery | Chemical probes | Inhibitor Design

The Plettenburg group focusses on the development of new chemical probes with different modes of detection, targeted delivery and the design of novel inhibitors.

View lab

Contact

240130_Portrait_Giesselmann

Valerie Gießelmann

Assistant

Schneiderberg 1b 30167 Hannover, Building OCI, Room 5