Phillip Lowe studied for a MChem degree at the University of Manchester from 2006-2010. During his fourth year MChem project, his research involved the reengineering of the adenine-responsive add A-riboswitch, specifically the design and synthesis of pyrimidine based ligands used to regulate gene expression with the mutant add A-riboswitches.
In 2010 Phillip continued his work with the Micklefield group by studying for a PhD in the area of Biological Chemistry. He is currently researching the reengineering of a PreQ1 binding riboswitch. His work focuses on generating an orthogonal ‘transcriptionally OFF’ riboswitch for dynamic control of gene expression with synthetic PreQ1 analogues in vivo, as well as the in vitro characterisation of riboswitch RNA-Ligand binding events.
Phillip has experience in organic synthesis, biological chemistry and RNA; synthesis, purification and in vitro analysis. Along with analytical and characterisation techniques including; FPLC, HPLC, mass spectrometry, ITC, DSC and NMR.
Outside of the lab Phillip trains and teaches martial arts, and has a keen interest in football. He also enjoys socialising at the pub, providing a decent range of craft ale is available.
Publications:
Rational Re-engineering of the Transcriptional Silencing PreQ1 Riboswitch. M.-C. Wu, P.T. Lowe, C.J. Robinson, H.A. Vincent, N. Dixon, J. Leigh, J. Micklefield J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2015 137, 9015-9021 (http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5b03405)
Modular Riboswitch Toolsets for Synthetic Genetic Control in Diverse Bacterial Species. C.J. Robinson, H.A. Vincent, M.-C. Wu, P.T.Lowe, M.S. Duncan, D. Leys, and J. Micklefield J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 10615-10624. DOI: 10.1021/ja502873j
Conference contributions, other (presenting author is underlined)
C.J. Robinson, N. Dixon, J.N. Duncan, T. Geerlings, M.-C. Wu, P. Lowe, J. Micklefields, “Orthogonal Riboswitches As Tools for Controlling Gene Expression in Bacteria,” RNA 2012: The 17th Annual Meeting of the RNA Society, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mi, USA. May 29-Jun 2, 2012