Professor Igor Komarov (Kyiv) awarded Georg Forster Award by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

Professor Igor Komarov conducts research on the synthesis of non-natural amino acids and photo-switchable cyclic peptides at the Institute of High Technologies at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. When exposed to light the biological effect of these peptides can be switched on and off – a property which has great potential for the development of new cancer drugs, for example. Igor Komarov has been using the Georg Forster Research Award to expand his collaboration with professor Anne S. Ulrich at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT).

KIT Press-release: Successful Laboratory Test of Photoswitchable Anti-tumor Agent. Photoswitchable agents might reduce side effects of a chemotherapy. So far, photodynamic therapies have been dependent on oxygen in the tissue. But hardly any oxygen exists in malignant, rapidly growing tumors. A group of researchers of KIT and the University of Kyiv has now developed a photo-switchable molecule as a basis of an oxygen-independent method. Their successful laboratory tests on tumors are reported in the journal “Angewandte Chemie” (Applied Chemistry). DOI: 10.1002/ange.201600506.