Dr. Kevin Neumann

Assistant Professor - Systems Chemistry
Research theme - Chemical NanoMedicine

Biography

In 2018, Kevin obtained his PhD at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, under the supervision of Professor Mark Bradley. In his PhD, Kevin was working on tetrazine-mediated drug activation chemistry and on glycopolymers for high-affinity lectin-binding. After his PhD studies, Kevin worked as a postdoctoral fellow on a project that investigated radiotherapy-mediated prodrug activation in collaboration with clinicians of the Royal School of Veterinary Studies in Edinburgh. In 2018, Kevin joined the group of Jeffrey Bode as postdoctoral fellow at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Here, he worked on the total chemical synthesis of proteins. In 2021, Kevin started as an assistant professor in the Systems Chemistry Department at the IMM, Radboud University in Nijmegen. His research focuses on innovative new principles for drug activation and delivery.

Research

Macromolecules for Translational Science

Macromolecules are an essential component of nanomedicine, not only for the construction of nano-devices but also for the decoration with chemical functionalities. Such highly functionalized polymers can be utilized as targeting moieties, multivalent ligands and biomimicking scaffolds. Our research focus is on the design and synthesis of macromolecules that enable new technologies in the field of nanomedicine. In particular, we aim to develop new synthetic methodologies that combine the design, synthesis and in-situ evaluation of functionalised macromolecules in high-throughput experiments, which will facilitate the translations to clinical applications

In-vivo Drug Synthesis

A key interest for the treatment of many diseases is the selective delivery of bioactive molecules to targets of interest such as tumor tissues without unspecific off-targeting, which often results in severe side effects. This part of our research focuses on an alternative approach, namely the synthesis of drug molecules from small drug fragments directly at the site of interest. This will be realized with the help of highly functionalized polymer scaffolds embedded in the cellular system, which we like to refer to as ‘nanofactories’. Localized drug synthesis at the site of interest will be achieved by compartmentation within these polymeric scaffolds.

Interested?

We are always looking for motivated graduate and undergraduate students with an interest in polymer- and organic-chemistry to join our group. If you are interested in joining us, please send a message directly to Kevin.

Key Publications

• B. B. Berking, D. Karagrigoriou, G. Poulladofonou, D. A. Wilson, K. Neumann*, Angewandte Chemie, 2023, accepted, e202308971.
• K. Gavriel, D. C. A. van Doeselaar, D. W. T. Geers, K. Neumann, RSC Chem. Biol., 2023,4, 685-691.
• G. Poullladofonou and K. Neumann, Polymer Chemistry, 2022, 13, 4416.
• K. Neumann, J. Farnung, S. Baldauf and J. W. Bode, Nature Communication, 2020, 11, 982.
• K. Neumann†*, A. Gambardella†, A. Lilienkampf and M. Bradley*, Chem. Sci. 2018, 9, 7198.
• K. Neumann†, A. C. Gonzalez†, M. Owens, A. Venturato, Y. Zhang, J. Geng and M. Bradley, Macromolecules, 2017, 50, 6026.

Courses

NWI-SM019A Polymer Chemistry (Lecturer)

NWI-MOL422 Polymer CHemistry 2 (Lecturer)

NWI-MOL418 Chemical Biology (Lecturer)

NWI-MOL101 Essentials of Organic Chemistry (Lecturer)

Prize and Awards