Bioinorganic Chemistry and Chemical Biology

Research in the Que lab is centered in bioinorganic chemistry and chemical biology. Our interdisciplinary research bridges the fields of coordination chemistry, synthetic chemistry, and chemical biology to gain a molecular understanding of biological processes including those in cancer and reproductive biology. We seek to develop small molecule imaging tools based on both organic and metal complex platforms that can be used for visualizing cellular processes in single cells, tissues, and whole organisms using a number of imaging modalities including fluorescence microscopy and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). In addition, chemical tools and methods will be developed to help us gain a quantitative understanding of how metal ions function in cells during key cellular transitions.