Dirk Trauner (born 17 April 1967 in
Linz) is an
Austrian
chemist.
Education and training
From 1986 to 1991 Trauner studied
biology and
biochemistry at the
University of Vienna. From 1992 to 1995 he studied
chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
at the
Free University of Berlin and completed his diploma under
Johann Mulzer
Johann Hermann Wolfgang Mulzer is a German organic chemist, best known for his work in total synthesis. Since 1996, he has been a professor of chemistry at the University of Vienna (Universität Wien).
Awards
*1994 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Pr ...
, whom he followed to Frankfurt and subsequently Vienna as an assistant. In 1997 he completed his PhD under Mulzer at the University of Vienna summa cum laude.
From 1998 to 2000 he was a postdoc under
Samuel J. Danishefsky at the
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in
New York City.
In 2000 he moved to the University of California, Berkeley, where from 2000 to 2006 he was assistant professor and from 2006 to 2010 associate professor, with additional affiliation to the
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), commonly referred to as the Berkeley Lab, is a United States Department of Energy National Labs, United States national laboratory that is owned by, and conducts scientific research on behalf of, t ...
from 2005 to 2008. From 2008 to 2017 he was professor for chemical biology and genetics at the
Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich
The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous operatio ...
. He currently resides as the Janice Cutler Chair in Chemistry at New York University. He is also an adjunct professor of neuroscience at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine, a member of the Neuroscience Institute and of the Perlmutter Cancer Center.
Research
Trauner is a leader in the fields of
photopharmacology and
natural product
A natural product is a natural compound or substance produced by a living organism—that is, found in nature. In the broadest sense, natural products include any substance produced by life. Natural products can also be prepared by chemical syn ...
total synthesis.
His view is that many biologically active substances even of low molecular weight have not yet been discovered, and he has directed his research group to perform the
total synthesis of such compounds. Continuing his pioneering work in photopharmacology, his research group is developing chemical tools that are useful in neuroscience and cell biology but also hold promise as precision therapeutics, controlling the activity and presence of biologically active substances using light.
Distinctions (selected)
* 2021 ACS Cope Scholar Award
* 2017 Member,
Leopoldina – German National Academy of Sciences
* 2016
* 2016
Emil Fischer Medal
* 2013 Kitasato Microbial Chemistry Medal
[Leopoldina Trauner CV](_blank)
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* 2008 Roche Excellence in Chemistry Award
References
External links
The Trauner Research Group
Living people
Austrian chemists
1967 births
Members of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina
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