The Carell group at LMU, including our ESR Elsa Peev, just published their work on the Synthesis and Structure Elucidation of Glutamyl-Queuosine, in the Journal of the Americal Chemical Society.
The publication is open-access and can be found here.
Dissemination
NATURE-ETN Symposium in Paris, France
On the 9th and 10th of November 2023, the Gasser group at Chimie ParisTech hosted the NATURE-ETN Symposium at their premises in Paris, France.
The Symposium was centred on the path from basic research to commercialisation and/or clinical trials. We had the privilege to hear from eminent speakers such as Marie Dutreix (Institut Curie, co-founder of DNA Therapeutics), Thomas Carell (Founder of baseclick), Tom Brown (co-founder of three biotechs, including our partner ATDBio), Nick Farrell (Virginia Commonwealth University), Patrick Couvreur (University Paris-Saclay and serial entrepreneur), Laurence Mulard (Institut Pasteur), and Mark Bazett (Director of Preclinical Development at Bold Therapeutics Inc.).
Some ESRs also presented their poster during the event reception at the beautiful Chimie ParisTech library.
We thank the Gasser group for the smooth organisation, as well as all the speakers for their precious insights from basic science to applications.
Work from Paris-Reading collaboration published in Inorganic Chemistry
Our ESRs Maria Dalla Pozza (PSL University), Tayler David Prieto and Ahmad Abdullrahman (University of Reading) published together with their supervisors and co-authors from the Hollenstein lab at Institut Pasteur, a new article in the Inorganic Chemistry journal.
The article is about Ru(II) complexes with phototoxicity in the nM concentration range.
New Publication: Thiazole Orange-Carboplatin TFO Combination Probes for Enhanced DNA Crosslinking
A group of researchers from the Kellett group at Dublin City University (including our ESR Malou Coche), the Brown group at the University of Oxford, and the company ATDBio, along with the member of our Scientific Advisory Board Nicholas P. Farrell (Virginia Commonwealth University) co-authored a new publication in the journal RSC Medicinal Chemistry.
Titled “Thiazole Orange-Carboplatin Triplex-Forming Oligonucleotide (TFO) Combination Probes Enhance Targeted DNA Crosslinking”, this study reports a new class of Carboplatin-TFO hybrid that incorporates a bifunctional alkyne-amine nucleobase monomer called AP-C3-dT that enables dual ‘click’ platinum(II) drug conjugation and thiazole orange fluorophore coupling.
It is available in Open Access on the journal’s website.
Tayler at the ISNAC conference in Japan
On November 1, our ESR Tayler David Prieto from the University of Reading presented a poster at the 50th International Symposium on Nucleic Acid Chemistry (ISNAC 2023) organised by the Japan Society of Nucleic Acids Chemistry in Miyazaki, Japan.
Tayler presented his work on DNA major groove intercalation by a ruthenium (II) diimine complex, which results from collaborative work with the Kellett group at Dublin City University.
During the event, our PI James Hall from the University of Reading also presented the NATURE-ETN project to the audience.
Next week, Tayler will have the opportunity to visit the Frontier Institute for Biomolecular Engineering Research (FIBER) in Kobe and share his work within the FIBER Future College 103 open seminar.
A new publication from the collaboration between LMU and baseclick
Our ESR Eva Schönegger, together with colleagues from the company baseclick GmbH and the Carell group at LMU Münich, just published a new paper titled “Orthogonal end labelling of oligonucleotides via dual incorporation of Click reactive NTP analogues” on ChemBioChem.
The paper introduces a modular method for modifying DNA and RNA strands at both ends with click-modifiable functional groups using γ-modified ATP analogues and T4 PNK catalysis for 5′-modification, compatible with TdT-catalyzed 3′-elongation using 3′-Azido-2′,3′-ddGTP. The approach is demonstrated to be suitable for oligo-oligo ligations and ssDNA-circularization, potentially enhancing the utility of oligonucleotides in therapeutic and diagnostic applications, particularly in next-generation sequencing.
The list of publications originating from the network can be found on our Dissemination page.
Jamie and colleagues at Origins of Life Donostia Meeting 2023
Our ESR Chun Yin (Jamie) Chan from the Carell group at LMU Munich, together with colleagues presented their work at the Origins of Life Donostia Meeting in Donostia-San Sebastian, Basque Country (Spain).
He presented his work on “RNA modifications as molecular fossils of an early protocell world”, co-authored with Johannes Singer and Thomas Carell.
New publication on super cytotoxic Re(I) complexes
Collaborative work between researchers from the University of the Free World in South Africa and the Gasser group at PSL University has just been published in Inorganic Chemistry. This work notably includes a contribution from our ESR Maria Dalla Pozza.
This paper presents Re(I) carbonyl complexes with exceptionally low nanomolar cytotoxic activity toward prostate cancer cells, demonstrating further the future viability of utilising rhenium in the fight against cancer.
It is available Open Access here.
Tayler presents his work around the world
Our ESR Tayler David Prieto from the University of Reading presented his work on synthetic and structural studies of ruthenium complexes as DNA major groove binders at different conferences.
He first presented a poster at the 16th International Symposia of Applied Bioinorganic Chemistry (ISABC), which took place in Ioannina, Greece from the 11th to the 14th of June 2023. On the 7th of July, he did an oral presentation about it at the 19th Royal Society of Chemistry’s Nucleic Acid Forum in London, UK. His journey continued in Adelaide, Australia, for the 20th International Conference on Biological Inorganic Chemistry (ICBIC20), where he gave another oral presentation.
The poster can be found here.
The aim of his project, in collaboration with Diamond Light Source and the Kellett group at Dublin City University, is to provide the first crystallographic evidence of a ruthenium polypyridyl complex binding from the DNA major groove; potentially, as one component of a DNA-binding triplex-forming oligonucleotide (TFO) assembly.
DCU and LMU publish review on Third Generation Sequencing of Epigenetic DNA
The Kellett (DCU) and Carell (LMU) groups recently published a collaborative review titled ‘Third Generation Sequencing of Epigenetic DNA’ in Angewandte Chemie. The review is open access and covers the latest developments in sequencing techniques adapted and developed for ‘third generation’ sequencing platforms, which promise to provide the fastest and most convenient means of DNA sequencing to date.
Cytosine modifications have been shown to influence gene regulation, in turn effecting disease and development, thus facile methods for sequencing these base modifications by exploiting the chemistries of these new devices is an active area of research. Despite extensive reviews covering sequencing technologies and base modifications independently, to our knowledge, this is the first publication to highlight the emerging potential of third generation sequencing technologies to expedite epigenetic research.
During the first in-person NATURE-ETN training week organised in the Institute for Chemical Epigenetic – Munich (ICE-M), Dr Markus Müller and Dr. Pascal Giehr delivered seminars focused on epigenome sequencing which provided valuable background in techniques developed to facilitate the decoding of this secondary information layer in DNA. Work Package 3 in NATURE-ETN aims to generate new techniques for sequencing and imaging epigenetic bases. DCU and LMU have access to third generation sequencing devices, so this review will provide a helpful reference point for researchers in the network.