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Cambridge Biosciences DTP PhD Programme

 

Department of Chemistry

Research

Project Title:

Small molecule approaches to targeted RNA degradation

Project Summary:

Tools that target and degrade or edit nucleic acids are already having a huge impact on both basic and transnational research, with several such systems being approved as therapeutics and many more in the clinical trials. The major drawback of currently available system - they are either genetic or nucleic acid-based, which limits their scope of applicability.  To circumvent these issues, I went on to design novel small molecule systems that target and degrade RNA. I explored their use as therapeutics and designed degradation-based systems for mapping of RNA modifications. As the targetable RNA space greatly exceeds the targetable protein space, this approach can target many more disease-relevant targets than traditional therapeutic strategies. I am hopeful that these small molecule gene silencers will find use both for basic research and development of new drugs.

 

Publications

Key publications: 

Mikutis, Sigitas, et al. "meCLICK-Seq, a substrate-hijacking and RNA degradation strategy for the study of RNA methylation." ACS central science 6.12 (2020): 2196-2208.
 

Teaching and Supervisions

Research supervision: 

Dr Gonçalo Bernardes

Staff Photo

Contact Details

Job Titles

PhD Student