Zobi Group

Born in Italy in 1976, Prof. Fabio Zobi studied chemistry at the York University (Toronto, Canada) where in 2001 he received a Master degree working in the group of Dennis V. Stynes. He then moved to Zürich where in 2005 he obtained his PhD under the direction of Roger Alberto. After spending nearly two years as postdoctoral fellow in the group of Peter J. Sadler at the University of Edinburgh he moved back to Zürich. In 2009 he became an independent researcher holding a SNF-Ambizione fellowship before receiving  in 2013 an SNF Professorship at the chemistry department of the University of Fribourg, where in 2017 he was promoted full professor. Fabio Zobi’s research interests are diverse covering different topics in inorganic chemical biology, medicinal inorganic chemistry and medicinal organometallic chemistry.

• Research Interest

  Medicinal Inorganic Chemistry Research Group works at the interface between inorganic chemistry, organometallic chemistry, medicinal chemistry, chemical biology and biology. Projects undertaken in our laboratory fundamentally aim at answering open scientific questions of current interest in the fields above. We are also interested in developing new imaging techniques and identifying clinically useful compounds which should ultimately be employed to ameliorate different human pathologies. Generally speaking, our scientific pursuit involves the preparation, characterization and application (for biological or medicinal purposes) of metal-based complexes and the surface functionalization of bio-inspired materials.

   

• Selected Publications
  1. Prieto, L; Rossier, J.; Derszniak, K.; Dybas, J.; Oetterli, R. M.; Kottelat, E.; Chlopicki, S.; Zelder, F.; Zobi, F. Modified biovectors for the tuneable activation of anti-platelet carbon monoxide release, Chem. Commun., 2017, 53, 6840.
     
     
  2. Suliman, H. B.; Zobi, F.; Piantadosi, C. A. Heme Oxygenase-1/Carbon Monoxide System and Embryonic Stem Cell Differentiation and Maturation into Cardiomyocytes, Antioxid Redox Signal. 2016, 24, 345.
     
     
  3. Quaroni, L.; Obst, M.; Nowak, M. Zobi, F. Three‐Dimensional Mid‐Infrared Tomographic Imaging of Endogenous and Exogenous Molecules in a Single Intact Cell with Subcellular Resolution, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., 2015, 54, 318.
     
     
  4. Zobi, F.; Quaroni, L.; Santoro, G.; Zlateva, T.; Blacque, O.; Sarafimov, B.; Schaub, M. C.; Bogdanova, A. Yu. Live-Fibroblast IR Imaging of a Cytoprotective PhotoCORM Activated with Visible Light, J. Med. Chem., 2013, 56, 6719.
     
     
  5. Zobi, F.; Blacque, O.; Jacobs, R. A.; Schaubc, M. C.; Bogdanova, A. Yu. 17 e−rhenium dicarbonyl CO-releasing molecules on a cobalamin scaffold for biological application, Dalton Trans., 2012, 41, 370.