Chemical Approaches to Control Gene Expression

"Strategies to interfere with gene expression including inhibition or enhancement of transcription /translation processes or gene editing, are at the base of therapeutic approaches to cure cancer, hereditary diseases or viral infections. Key actors to all these processes are synthetic molecules, such as modified oligonucleotides, metal complexes or other organic molecules.
The aim of this course is to discuss the structure of oligonucleotide analogues employed in clinically relevant drugs. The focus will be on the effect of chemical modification of nucleotides on the structure, physical /chemical properties and function of oligonucleotides.
Recent examples from the literature of advanced tools to promote gene editing such as light-controllable gRNA to be used within the CRISPR-Cas9 system will be described. Bioinformatic tools for the design of bioactive sequences will be discussed. In addition, the use of metal complexes designed to interact with DNA and achieve anti-cancer effect will be illustrated.
The course will consist of lectures addressing a theoretical introduction and practical examples for each topic."