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Raphael Franzini, PhD

Languages spoken: English

Academic Information

Departments Primary - Medicinal Chemistry

Lab

Addressing the current challenges faced by clinicians will require an interdisciplinary approach combining knowledge of diverse fields. My research group focuses on the interfaces of Chemistry, Biology and Medicine with the aim of developing novel types of therapeutic agents, imaging probes and diagnostic assays. Standard experimental techniques used to achieve this goal include synthetic organic chemistry, instrumental analysis, and basic molecular biology methods. One focus is on the development of reaction-based delivery of therapeutics to solid tumors with an emphasis on genitourinary malignancies. Furthermore, we develop DNA-encoded library solutions to find new pharmaceuticals for cancers and age-related chronic diseases.

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. Tu J, Svatunek D, Parvez S, Liu AC, Levandowski BJ, Eckvahl HJ, Peterson RT, Houk KN, Franzini RM (2019). Stable, Reactive, and Orthogonal Tetrazines: Dispersion Forces Promote the Cycloaddition with Isonitriles. Angew Chem Int Ed Engl, 58(27), 9043-9048. (Read full article)
  2. Yuen LH, Franzini R (2017). Stability of Oligonucleotide-Small Molecule Conjugates to DNA-Deprotection Conditions. Bioconjugate chemistry, 28(4), 1076-1083. (Read full article)
  3. Yuen LH, Dana S, Liu Y, Bloom SI, Thorsell AG, Neri D, Donato AJ, Kireev D, Schüler H, Franzini R (2019). A Focused DNA-Encoded Chemical Library for the Discovery of Inhibitors of NAD+-Dependent Enzymes. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 141(13), 5169-5181. (Read full article)
  4. Tu J, Xu M, Parvez S, Peterson RT, Franzini R (2018). Bioorthogonal Removal of 3-Isocyanopropyl Groups Enables the Controlled Release of Fluorophores and Drugs in Vivo. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 140(27), 8410-8414. (Read full article)
  5. Franzini RM, Randolph (2016). Chemical Space of DNA-Encoded Libraries. Journal of medicinal chemistry, 59(14), 6629-44. (Read full article)
  6. Tu J, Xu M, Franzini R (2019). Dissociative Bioorthogonal Reactions. Chembiochem, 20(13), 1615-1627. (Read full article)
  7. Yuen LH, Franzini R (2017). Achievements, Challenges, and Opportunities in DNA-Encoded Library Research: An Academic Point of View. Chembiochem, 18(9), 829-836. (Read full article)
  8. Xu M, Tu J, Franzini R (2017). Rapid and efficient tetrazine-induced drug release from highly stable benzonorbornadiene derivatives. Chemical communications (Cambridge, England), 53(46), 6271-6274. (Read full article)
  9. Xu M, Galindo-Murillo R, Cheatham TE, Franzini R (2017). Dissociative reactions of benzonorbornadienes with tetrazines: scope of leaving groups and mechanistic insights. Organic & biomolecular chemistry, 15(46), 9855-9865. (Read full article)
  10. Favalli N, Biendl S, Hartmann M, Piazzi J, Sladojevich F, Gräslund S, Brown PJ, Näreoja K, Schüler H, Scheuermann J, Franzini R, Neri (2018). A DNA-Encoded Library of Chemical Compounds Based on Common Scaffolding Structures Reveals the Impact of Ligand Geometry on Protein Recognition. ChemMedChem, 13(13), 1303-1307. (Read full article)