Chemistry for DNA Damage and Repair

Yao Z. Xu

Chemistry Department, the Open University,
Walton Hall Milton Keynes, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA, England

Website: http://www3.open.ac.uk/science/chemistry/people/person/225.htm

Research Interests:
Development of novel methods for the preparation of modified oligonucleotides (DNA and RNA); Application of the synthetic oligonucleotides in a wide variety of biological studies, particularly in DNA damage and repair.

Research Funding:
Cancer Research Campaign (Cancer Research UK), The Open University, The Royal Society, Chinese Academy of Sciences, K.C. Wong Education Foundation, UK-HK joint research scheme

Recent Publications:
4-thio-5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine: chemical synthesis and therapeutic potential of UVA-induced DNA damage
Y.-Z. Xu, .X. Zhang, H.-C. Wu, A. Massey, P. Karran, Bioorganic & Medicinal Chemistry Letters, 14, 995-997 (2004)

Synthetic chemistry of base-modified DNA in "Modified Nucleosides,
Y.-Z. Xu, Synthesis and Applications" (D. Loakes. Ed), pp1-16, (2002) Published by Research Signpost.

Ambiguous coding is required for the lethal interaction between methylated DNA bases and DNA mismatch repair
A. Massey, Y.-Z. Xu, P. Karran DNA Repair 12, (2002) 275-286.

Photoactivation of DNA thiobases as a potential novel therapeutic option
A. Massey, Y.-Z. Xu, P. Karran, Current Biology 11 1142-1146 (2001).

Synthesis and Characterisation of DNA containing O6-carboxymethylguanine.
Y.-Z. Xu, Tetrahedron 56 6075-6081 (2000).

Thiobase DNA: the chemistry and some applications in cancer studies.
Y.-Z. Xu, Progress in Natural Sciences 10 401-413 (2000).

COST P9 Workings group(s) of interest: