Lennart Bunch

Lennart Bunch

Professor

Ever since my first experience with organic chemistry as an undergraduate, I have been spellbound with this field of research: The ability of mankind to synthesize any compound of interest and hereafter investigate how a structural change affects its biological activity. The intellectual aspect of rational drug design and synthesis is to me captivating and motivates me every day I go to work.

My passion for natural science made it easy for me to choose my undergraduate studies as a chemical engineer with special focus on organic synthesis and quantum chemistry. My eager to learn more and understand the fundamentals of organic chemistry drove me to pursue a 2-year master study at Florida State University (FSU) in the USA. Accepting an offer of full tuition-waiver and a teaching position at FSU, those two years of intensive study made it clear to me that I wanted to establish a research group in academia within the field of organic and medicinal chemistry.

Returning to my home country for a PhD study in organic chemistry/medicinal chemistry was an easy choice for me. The topic of my thesis was new ligands for the glutamat receptors - a fascinating field within CNS research! Changing my focus for a while, I chose to do my postdoc at DTU in Denmark within organometallic chemistry developing new methodology.

My determinacy to pursue an academic career prompted me to apply for a three-year Assistant Professorship through the Danish Research Foundation, and was granted this in 2003 within the field of glutamatergic neurotransmission.

In 2006, I was promoted to Associate Professor and began to build-up my own research group – the Bunch Research Group

  

SCIENTIFIC KEY QUALIFICATIONS

  • Organic Chemistry: new methodology relevant for medicinal chemistry
  • Medicinal Chemistry: small molecule design, structure-based design, new techniques
  • Computational chemistry: docking, binding modes, 
  • Developement of tool compounds for the study of health and disease in the CNS

 

 

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