Building Bridges:the magic of light and the logic of molecules

The inaugural lecture of Prof. Wiktor Szymanski, newly appointed as chair of Medicinal Chemistry, Photopharmacology and Imaging, will focus on building bridges between disciplines, faculties and ideas. 

His lecture is based on 9 questions about ‘magic bullet’ drugs, light, and bridges between mysticism and science. Questions that his lecture will address include:

1. How is it possible that after 100 years of looking for a drug that would - like a “magic bullet” - only cure the disease without affecting the patient, we still do not have one?
2. How can light be used in the clinic to help doctors see, diagnose and treat diseases with laser precision and help us find such “magic bullet”?
3. How can fundamental photochemistry enable and guide the work of the photo-physicians of the future?
4. What needs to happen in Groningen to bring the light-driven solution to the clinics?
5. What is the only correct approach to describing the way that toys work that emit light in the dark?
6. Is it possible to generate light inside a human body and what does this have to do with exploding bubbles?
7. Where do Yoga and chemistry meet, and is it possible to build a bridge between mysticism and science?
8. Can doctors be taught quantum physics and why the answer needs to be a “yes”? And finally,
9. What do a doctor born in Silesia, a chemist born in India and a philosopher born in Wales have to do with any of this?

Design and layout: LINE UP boek en media bv | Riëtte van Zwol, Mirjam Kroondijk
Cover illustration: Thom Easix, used with kind permission.
Author photo: Koen, Imazzo fotografie (https://imazzo.nl/)

Published by University of Groningen Press
Broerstraat 4
9712 CP Groningen
https://ugp.rug.nl/