University of Szeged, Faculty of Science and Informatics, Bioinorganic Chemistry Research Group  H-6720 Szeged, Dóm tér 7-8. Tel.: (+36-)62-54-4334
Last updates: 2023.09.25.
Welcome to the hompage of Bioinorganic Chemistry Research Group Biocoordination   chemistry   researches   were   initiated   at   the   Department   by   Professor   Kálmán   Burger   Member   of   the   Hungarian   Academy   of   Sciences in   1983.   This   year   he   arrived   from   the   Eötvös   Loránd   University,   Budapest   and   was   appointed   to   the   Head   of   the   Department   of      Inorganic   and Analytical   Chemistry   at   the   József   Attila   University,   Szeged.   In   parallel   with   this,   from   the   Reaction   Kinetics   Research   Group   of   the   Hungarian Academy   of   Sciences   a   new   academy   research   group   separated   and   the   Biocoordination   Chemistry   Research   Group   of   the   Hungarian   Academy   of     Sciences   was   created   with   him   as   the   leader   of   the   Group.   The   main   profile   of   the   Group   was   studying   the   interactions   of   low   and   high   molecular mass   biomolecules   with   potential   biological   activity   with   essential   metal   ions   in   order   to   achieve   positive   physiological   effects   to   make   molecules which   can   have   medicinal   applications.   Probably   the   most   remarkable   result   of   this   work   was   the   preparation   of   a   Zn(II)-hyluronate   complex   with wound-healing   activity,   in   collaboration   with   the   Richter   Gedeon   Pharmaceutical   Works,   Budapest,   which   was   introduced   in   the   medicinal   practice in   the   name   of   Curiosa   in   1998.   Since   1983   about   half   of   the   academic   staff   of   the   Department   plus   the   full   staff   of   the   Academy   Research   Group   works in   the   field   of   biocoordination   chemistry.   From   the   beginning   the   Group   had   increasing   international   collaboration   links   with   European,   Asian   and overseas   universities.   Meanwhile   the   Head   of   the   Department   changed   in   1996,   when   Professor   Tamás   Kiss,   who   arrived   from   the   Kossuth   Lajos University,   Debrecen   was   appointed   to   this   position.   As   he   had   been   working   in   the   same   field,   these   researches   continued   with   unchanged   activity and   success.   He   became   the   head   of   the   Academy   Research   group   also   from   1999.   During   the   years   the   research   activity   of   the   group   moved   more   and more   to   the   investigation   metal   complexes   with   potential   medicinal   application.   The   aim   of   the   studies   were   to   explore   the   transformations   of   these molecules   occurring   in   the   biological   systems   in   fluids   or   in   the   cells.   We   want   to   know   as   much   as   possible   about   their   interactions   with   the endogenous    and    exogenous    molecules    present    in    biological    systems.    From    model    systems    we    moved    more    and    more    to    real    systems.    Our investigations   include   among   others   anticancer   and   antidiabetic   metal   complexes,   compounds   for   metal   targeted   therapy   in   neurodegenerative diseases.   We   are   involved   in   work   for   elaboration   of   artificial   enzymes.   Based   on   the   structural   and   functional   modelling   of   metal   containing metalloproteins   and   metalloenzymes   we   want   to   get   mechanistic   information   about   various   hydrolytic   and   redox   enzymes.   The   final   aim   is   the elaboration   of   biomimetic   catalysts   with   catalytic   efficacy   close   to   enzymes.   Our   researches   can   serve   also   the   therapy   of   various   genetic   diseases through   the   correction   of   genetic   errors   using   e.g.   artificial   metallonucleases.      In   addition,   we   try   to   develop   techniques   to   use   bacteria   producing toxic   metal   ion   binding   proteins   in   order   to   remove   toxic   metal   ions   from   waste   waters   in   an   efficient   way.   All   these   changes   in   the   scope   of   our researches   gave   motivation   to   emphasize   the   bioinorganic   chemistry   aspects   of   the   works   in   the   name   of   group   too,   and   thus   now   the   official   name was   changed   to   Bioinorganic   Chemistry   Research   Group.   The   directions   of   our   current   research   projects   are   largely   determined   by   our   participation in   the   “Intelligent   Metallic   Compounds”   (GINOP -2.3.2-15-2016-00038 )   project   under   the   Economic   and   Innovation   Operative   Program   of   the Hungarian   government   funded   by   the   European   Union.   This   research   group   has   the   highest   number   of   participants   in   the   department.   The   head   of the group was Tamás Gajda from 2018 until 2022, now Éva Anna Enyedy. Éva Anna Enyedy Head of the Research Group
Admins: Máté Levente Kis; Tamás Pivarcsik