Bioorganic and Biophysical Chemistry Laboratory

The Bioorganic and Biophysical Chemistry Laboratory (BBCL) is based in Kalmar at the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences. As the name suggests, we are a multidisciplinary chemical sciences research team, with focus on the study of both organic chemistry and physical chemistry and their application to problems of more biological significance.

Our research

The research activities of the Bioorganic and Biophysical Chemistry Laboratory fall into the following areas:

  1. The design, synthesis and evaluation of novel synthetic recognition systems. The study of molecular imprinting is an important aspect of our work in this area and the knowledge gained is being used for the development of mimics of enzymes and antibodies for applications in synthetic organic chemistry, biotechnology and clinical research.
  2. Fundamental studies in molecular recognition involving the thermodynamic characterisation of ligand - receptor binding events.
  3. The application of combinatorial chemistry and biology to the identification of new recognition elements.
  4. The study of microbiological and biomacromolecular stability and viability in chemically and physically extreme environments.
  5. Bionanotechnology: molecular motors. The study and application of motor protein function on micro and nano-scales.
  6. The development and use of spectroscopic methods for the study of synthetic and biological recognition systems.

Modern laboratories

Our research is performed in modern laboratories and we are equipped with, or have direct access to:

  • Spectroscopy: NMR (400 MHz, Bruker), fluorescence (3 instruments, including TIRF and stop-flow), UV, FT-IR, MS (MALDI-TOF)
  • Molecular modelling: 32 core cluster with software for molecular dynamics (Amber, ver. 10, Gromacs, ver. 4.0), DFT (Siesta, ver. 2.0.2) and visualisation (VMD, ver. 1.8.6, Molekel, ver. 4.3)
  • Microscopy: SEM, confocal fluorescence, AFM (nQuip), FT-IR
  • Chromatography: HPLC (several), LC-MS, GC-MS, CE/CEC, FPLC
  • Sensor platforms: SPR (Biacore X), QCM (Attana Cell-200, Attana-100, Attana-80)
  • Miscellaneous: Isotope labs & scintillation counting, cell and virus culture labs, cell counter, flow cytometry, goniometry, viscosometry, dielectric constant meter, polarimeter, particle- and surface analysis (Zetasizer)

Granting agencies and industrial partners

Our research is run with the support of a number of granting agencies and industrial partners:

The BBCL research group is part of the Department of Chemistry and Biomedical Sciences, the Linnæus University Centre of Excellence (LNUC) for Biomaterials Chemistry and the Linnaeus Knowledge Environment: Advanced materials.

Teaching

The majority of the people in BBCL contribute to the teaching activities at the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences. Members of the group have significant involvement in the teaching of undergraduate courses in:

  • General Chemistry
  • Inorganic Chemistry
  • Organic Chemistry
  • Physical Chemistry
  • Analytical Chemistry
  • Medicinal Chemistry
  • Bioorganic Chemistry
  • Laboratory methodology
  • Nutrition

These courses are integral components of a number of degree programmes:

  • Biology
  • Biomedical Chemistry
  • Biomedical Laboratory Science
  • Engineering
  • Environmental Management
  • Nanoscience
  • Nutrition and Food Science
  • Optometry
  • Pharmacy
  • Teacher Education.

In addition, members of the team contribute to a range of PhD courses offered by the faculty.

Publications

Staff

Contact and visiting information

Postal address

Bioorganic and Biophysical Chemistry Laboratory
Linnaeus University Centre for Biomaterials Chemistry
Department of Chemistry and Biomedical Sciences
Linnaeus University
SE-392 31 Kalmar
Sweden

Visiting address

Universitetsplatsen 1, SE-392 31 Kalmar
Fax: +46 (0)480–44 60 32
Phone: +46 (0)772–28 80 00 (operator)

Getting here

By car: E22 from Copenhagen/Malmö/Lund, or E4 then E22 from Stockholm.
By train: Regular train services to/from Copenhagen Airport/Malmö/Lund, Gothenburg and Stockholm. We are located 500 m from the Central Station.
By air: Several flights to and from Stockholm each day with either SAS (Arlanda) or Kalmarflyg (Bromma). The airport is a 10 min drive from the Department.