Main activities have been rooted in organic synthesis and photophysical characterizations. The need to synthesize deuterium containing molecules is challenging due to their change in reactivity with respect to non-deuterated species. We have tackled this successfully. High purity is achieved by reverse phase high performance liquid chromatography. Photophysical measurements include UV/Vis spectroscopy, fluorescence quantum yield. Labelling of proteins has been achieved in vitro, with biomolecules from recombinant sources. Cell culture has been performed, including molecular biology (e.g. cloning, transfection), in HEK293, CHO-K1 and MIN6 cells, and is combined with sophisticated imaging by widefield, confocal, lifetime and super-resolution stimulated emission by depletion microscopy. Main achievements inlcude:
1) Roßmann; […], Levitz*; Broichhagen*, Deuteration as a general strategy to enhance azobenzene-based photopharmacology, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2024. Highlighting that deuteration of photoswitches enhances efficiency and speed for the optical control of ion channels and GPCRs.
2) Ast; […], Broichhagen*; Hodson*, Revealing the tissue-level complexity of endogenous glucagon-like peptide 1-receptor expression and signaling, Nat. Commun. 2023. Created a CRISPR/Cas9 SNAP-tag knock-in mouse to study the glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor using custom-tailored dyes for sensitive microscopy.
3) Invited speaker to the "Chemiedozententagung", the 128th International Titisee Conference, the 9th European Synapse Meeting, and the 5th Meeting of the Incretin Study Group, as well as the 28th and 29th International Workshop of PicoQuant.
