Many of the medicines, materials and chemical products we use every day rely on rare and expensive metals such as palladium and platinum. These metals are limited resources, expensive to obtain and vulnerable to global supply disruptions. At the same time, society faces growing challenges such as antimicrobial resistance, which requires entirely new approaches to drug discovery. Marcus Korb’s research asks whether one of the most abundant metals on Earth – iron – can provide solutions to both problems.
Marcus Korb is developing new ways to use iron in chemistry, turning this abundant and inexpensive metal into a tool for making important molecules and potentially new medicines. His team has developed iron-based systems that can perform chemical reactions traditionally carried out using precious metals. They are also exploring iron in the fight against antimicrobial resistance. Because bacteria need iron to survive, the team designs synthetic iron-containing molecules that can exploit this dependence and turn it against them. Early results show activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria, opening a potential new direction for antimicrobial development.