Research

Overview

The research interests of the Lim lab lie in bioinorganic / bioorganic / biological chemistry, chemical biology, and neuroscience. Our research objectives are to (a) identify how metal-involved biological networks composed of proteins, neurotransmitters, and mediators for oxidative stress and inflammation are linked to dementia, including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases (AD and PD); (b) establish new directions for developing chemical reagents as tools, diagnostics, and therapeutics for such diseases. These goals can be accomplished through (i) elucidating the complicated and inter-communicated pathogenesis of dementia at the molecular level; (ii) designing small molecule-based or protein-based reagents as chemical tools through understanding the complicated networks among metals, various proteins, and/or other molecules (i.e., neurotransmitters), and as multi-tasking diagnostics or therapeutics. Students in the Lim lab have been engaging in synthetic chemistry (organic and inorganic syntheses), physical methods (NMR, EPR, IR, CD, and UV-vis spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and X-ray crystallography), as well as biochemical and biological techniques (biochemical assays, mammalian cell culture/analysis, and in vivo investigations).