The research associate Ermal Ismalaj is the new addition to the Molecular and Functional Biomarkers group, led by the Ikerbasque research professor Jesús Ruiz-Cabello. This has been possible thanks to the Gipuzkoa Fellows Program for talent attraction and retention, which, in Ruiz-Cabello’s view, is “a wonderful, tremendously flexible tool that helps us enlist distinguished researchers”.
Dr. Ermal Ismalaj's research interests blend organic synthesis with chemical biology. The aim of his research is to disseminate significant chemical transformations and simultaneously deploy them in the development of high-precision tools. His studies are geared towards transmembrane proteins that control excitability in the central nervous system, cardiac conduction within the heart and bioelectricity in non-excitable tissue. The Ikerbasque research professor pointed out that “these aspects are hugely interesting for our Molecular and Functional Biomarkers group”.
The research project Dr. Ismalaj will be running as a result of his appointment funded by the Charter Provincial Council of Gipuzkoa focusses on voltage-dependent calcium channels (CaV) in the heart. The ultimate goal is to develop PET imaging radiotracers specific to three different CaV isoforms that allow ventricular disorders to be correlated with overexpression of voltage-dependent calcium channels in preclinical models.
Imaging techniques offer huge potential when it comes to shedding light on the role of proteins, enzymes or even the metabolism in many disease states. Moreover, to take advantage of the great potential of these techniques, “I believe that the addition of this researcher will allow us to aspire to the utopian ratio of one radiotracer per protein in the future. To achieve this, I believe that organic synthesis is the limiting factor in the design of exclusive cutting-edge radiotracers, either through de novo synthesis or the adaptation of known drugs for diagnostic purposes,” Ruiz-Cabello added. So Dr. Ismalaj’s addition will allow organic synthesis to be applied in the design of new, high-precision tools, which include PET radiotracers and fluorescent, photoswitchable ligands that can be applied to diagnostic imaging applications or therapeutics.
About Ermal Ismalaj
Originally from Albania, he graduated in Pharmacy at the University of Siena and was awarded his PhD in Organic Chemistry by the University of Lyon. He also worked as a researcher at the University of Perugia and KU Leuven, with research stays at the University of Oxford and at our CIC biomaGUNE center.
During his time as a PhD student, he developed the first stable fluoroalkyl thiolation reagents in their class of molecule; these are tremendously useful in the late-stage insertion of fluorinated groups into organic scaffolds. What is more, this group led the way in fluoroalkyl selenolation chemistry by designing several very practical reaction precursors for one-pot chemical reactions. His contribution to green chemistry continues to be the discovery of y-valerolactone, the solvent of choice for replacing the more toxic, dipolar aprotic solvents in cross-coupling reactions.
In the course of his postdoctoral experience, he was engaged in the design of high specificity probes to obtain voltage-dependent calcium channel imaging, and novel methodologies in pentafluoro sulfanylation chemistry.