skip to content
Home

Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry

 

Professor Sir Shankar Balasubramanian FMedSci FRS

Herchel Smith Professor of Medicinal Chemistry

Nucleic acids are fundamental to life. Our research is focused on the chemical biology of nucleic acids, and employs the principles of chemistry and the molecular sciences to address questions of importance in biology and medicine. Projects are inherently interdisciplinary and will provide scope for a diversity of intellectual and experimental approaches that include: organic synthesis, biophysics, molecular and cellular biology and genomics. Our scientific goals are problem-driven, which constantly raises the need to invent new methodology.

 

A major interest is to elucidate and manipulate mechanisms that control the expression of genes (either transcription, or translation). We are particularly interested in the role of non-canonical nucleic acid structures that control gene expression (e.g. G-quadruplexes, micro RNA and RNA structures in the 5' untranslated regions of mRNAs). Our goal is to design and synthesise small organic molecules that target such structures and alter the expression of certain genes of interest. Such small molecule gene regulators are valuable tools to study mechanisms in biology and will also open up new approaches for therapeutics and molecular medicine, particularly for diseases characterized by aberrant expression of certain genes (e.g. various cancers).

Our fundamental science will inevitably create opportunities for translation and commercialisation. One such example was our invention (with Professor David Klenerman) of new DNA sequencing technology ("Solexa sequencing") that was commercialised as a Cambridge University spinout company (now part of Illumina Inc.) and is used routinely for applications in genomics, including human genome sequencing. 

Hear Shankar Balasubramanian discuss some of the group's research.

Watch Professor Balasubramanian discuss his research

Take a tour of the Balasubramanian Lab

Publications

LIN-28 and the poly(U) polymerase PUP-2 regulate let-7 microRNA processing in Caenorhabditis elegans.
NJ Lehrbach, J Armisen, HL Lightfoot, KJ Murfitt, A Bugaut, S Balasubramanian, EA Miska
– Nature Structural & Molecular Biology
(2009)
16,
1016
(doi: 10.1038/nsmb.1675)
A G-Rich Sequence within the c-kit Oncogene Promoter Forms a Parallel G-Quadruplex Having Asymmetric G-Tetrad Dynamics
S-TD Hsu, P Varnai, A Bugaut, AP Reszka, S Neidle, S Balasubramanian
– Journal of the American Chemical Society
(2009)
131,
13399
(doi: 10.1021/ja904007p)
A small molecule that disrupts G-quadruplex DNA structure and enhances gene expression
ZAE Waller, SA Sewitz, S-TD Hsu, S Balasubramanian
– J Am Chem Soc
(2009)
131,
12628
(doi: 10.1021/ja901892u)
G-Quadruplex DNA Bound by a Synthetic Ligand is Highly Dynamic
PV Jena, PS Shirude, B Okumus, K Laxmi-Reddy, F Godde, I Huc, S Balasubramanian, T Ha
– J Am Chem Soc
(2009)
131,
12522
(doi: 10.1021/ja903408r)
G-quadruplex nucleic acids as therapeutic targets.
S Balasubramanian, S Neidle
– Current opinion in chemical biology
(2009)
13,
345
(doi: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2009.04.637)
Controlled-folding of a small molecule modulates DNA G-quadruplex recognition.
S Müller, GD Pantoş, R Rodriguez, S Balasubramanian
– Chem Commun (Camb)
(2008)
80
(doi: 10.1039/b816861j)
Position and Stability Are Determining Factors for Translation Repression by an RNA G-Quadruplex-Forming Sequence within the 5′ UTR of the NRAS Proto-oncogene
S Kumari, A Bugaut, S Balasubramanian
– Biochemistry
(2008)
47,
12664
(doi: 10.1021/bi8010797)
Accurate whole human genome sequencing using reversible terminator chemistry
DR Bentley, S Balasubramanian, HP Swerdlow, GP Smith, J Milton, CG Brown, KP Hall, DJ Evers, CL Barnes, HR Bignell, JM Boutell, J Bryant, RJ Carter, R Keira Cheetham, AJ Cox, DJ Ellis, MR Flatbush, NA Gormley, SJ Humphray, LJ Irving, MS Karbelashvili, SM Kirk, H Li, X Liu, KS Maisinger, LJ Murray, B Obradovic, T Ost, ML Parkinson, MR Pratt, IMJ Rasolonjatovo, MT Reed, R Rigatti, C Rodighiero, MT Ross, A Sabot, SV Sankar, A Scally, GP Schroth, ME Smith, VP Smith, A Spiridou, PE Torrance, SS Tzonev, EH Vermaas, K Walter, X Wu, L Zhang, MD Alam, C Anastasi, IC Aniebo, DMD Bailey, IR Bancarz, S Banerjee, SG Barbour, PA Baybayan, VA Benoit, KF Benson, C Bevis, PJ Black, A Boodhun, JS Brennan, JA Bridgham, RC Brown, AA Brown, DH Buermann, AA Bundu, JC Burrows, NP Carter, N Castillo, M Chiara E Catenazzi, S Chang, R Neil Cooley, NR Crake, OO Dada, KD Diakoumakos, B Dominguez-Fernandez, DJ Earnshaw, UC Egbujor, DW Elmore, SS Etchin, MR Ewan, M Fedurco, LJ Fraser, KV Fuentes Fajardo, W Scott Furey, D George, KJ Gietzen, CP Goddard, GS Golda, PA Granieri, DE Green, DL Gustafson, NF Hansen, K Harnish, CD Haudenschild, NI Heyer, MM Hims, JT Ho, AM Horgan, K Hoschler, S Hurwitz, DV Ivanov, MQ Johnson, T James, TA Huw Jones, G-D Kang, TH Kerelska, AD Kersey, I Khrebtukova, AP Kindwall, Z Kingsbury, PI Kokko-Gonzales, A Kumar, MA Laurent, CT Lawley, SE Lee, X Lee, AK Liao, JA Loch, M Lok, S Luo, RM Mammen, JW Martin, PG McCauley, P McNitt, P Mehta, KW Moon, JW Mullens, T Newington, Z Ning, B Ling Ng, SM Novo, MJ O'Neill, MA Osborne, A Osnowski, O Ostadan, LL Paraschos, L Pickering, AC Pike, AC Pike, D Chris Pinkard, DP Pliskin, J Podhasky, VJ Quijano, C Raczy, VH Rae, SR Rawlings, A Chiva Rodriguez, PM Roe, J Rogers, MC Rogert Bacigalupo, N Romanov, A Romieu, RK Roth, NJ Rourke, ST Ruediger, E Rusman, RM Sanches-Kuiper, MR Schenker, JM Seoane, RJ Shaw, MK Shiver, SW Short, NL Sizto, JP Sluis, MA Smith, J Ernest Sohna Sohna, EJ Spence, K Stevens, N Sutton, L Szajkowski, CL Tregidgo, G Turcatti, S Vandevondele, Y Verhovsky, SM Virk, S Wakelin, GC Walcott, J Wang, GJ Worsley, J Yan, L Yau, M Zuerlein, J Rogers, JC Mullikin, ME Hurles, NJ McCooke, JS West, FL Oaks, PL Lundberg, D Klenerman, R Durbin, AJ Smith
– Nature
(2008)
456,
53
(doi: 10.1038/nature07517)
Diarylethynyl Amides That Recognize the Parallel Conformation of Genomic Promoter DNA G-Quadruplexes
J Dash, PS Shirude, S-TD Hsu, S Balasubramanian
– Journal of the American Chemical Society
(2008)
130,
15950
(doi: 10.1021/ja8046552)
A Novel Small Molecule That Alters Shelterin Integrity and Triggers a DNA-Damage Response at Telomeres
R Rodriguez, S Müller, JA Yeoman, C Trentesaux, J-F Riou, S Balasubramanian
– J Am Chem Soc
(2008)
130,
15758
(doi: 10.1021/ja805615w)
  • <
  • 19 of 31
  • >

Research Group

Research Interest Group

Telephone number

01223 336347

Email address

sb10031@cam.ac.uk

    Study at Cambridge

    About the University

    Research at Cambridge