RESEARCH VISION
In the Lovelock lab, we want to develop greener and more sustainable ways to manufacture pharmaceuticals, with a focus on engineering DNA-modifying enzymes to improve the synthesis of therapeutic oligonucleotides.
These molecules are short sequences of DNA or RNA designed to bind messenger RNA and block the production of harmful proteins. They hold great promise for treating a wide range of diseases, including genetic disorders, cancer, and viral infections. However, traditional methods for manufacturing therapeutic oligonucleotides are inefficient, generate considerable waste, and do not scale. To address these limitations, our lab is working on a biocatalytic platform to streamline both the synthesis of therapeutic oligonucleotides and their nucleoside triphosphate building blocks.
In addition, we are also working on conjugating oligonucleotides to other (bio)molecules to enable effective, targeted drug delivery, and on designing and engineering enzymes with non-canonical functionality to create catalysts for a wide variety of chemical transformations.
WORKING AT THE CUTTING EDGE
The group is headed by Dr. Sarah Lovelock and is a fun, curious, and dedicated interdisciplinary research team of post doctoral research associates, PhD candidates, and students. Our research is highly collaborative and involves partners in both academia and industry, such as the UKRI and Nucleic Acid Therapeutic Accelerator. As part of the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, we also have access to state-of-the-art equipment, including automated liquid handling robots, a colony picker, and a suite of high-throughout analytical facilities.