Matthew Bennett obtained his Masters degree in Chemistry from the University of Bristol in 2011. He completed his PhD in Chemistry at the University of Manchester in Chemistry in 2016 with a thesis entitled “Structure-Guided Directed Evolution of Alkyltransferase Enzymes” after four years in the Micklefield group. Matthew has continued as a postdoctoral researcher in the Micklefield group and his research is focussed on developing Methyltransferases for Biocatalytic purposes.
Matthew has worked with a number of different methyltransferases including the Catechol-O-Methyltransferase (COMT) enzyme, improving the regioselectivity of the enzyme through mutagenic and oligomeric separation techniques (see “Effects of Active Site Modification and Quaternary Structure on the Regioselectivity of Catechol-O-Methyltransferase. B. J. C. Law, M. R. Bennett, M. L. Thompson, C. Levy, S. A. Shepherd, D. Leys, and J. Micklefield Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016, 55 (8), 2683. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201508287)”), and focussing on key enzymes involved in the alkaloid biosynthetic pathway (Coclaurine-N-methyltransferase and tetrahydroprotoberberine cis–N-methyltransferase).
Further to methylation, he has also used the methyltransferases to perform alkylation reactions working with both enzymatic and chemical methods to synthesise SAM analogues, which coupled with methyltransferases can perform alkylation reactions. Finally, Matthew has worked as co-first author with Dr Anna-Winona Struck on developing a cascade reaction with COMT and mushroom tyrosinase that has been used to methylate and alkylate tyrosine residues on both peptides and proteins (see “An Enzyme Cascade for Selective Modification of Tyrosine Residues in Structurally Diverse Peptides and Proteins. A.-W. Struck, M. R. Bennett, S. A. Shepherd, B. J. C. Law, Y. Zhuo, L. S. Wong, J.Micklefield J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016, 138 (9), 3038 (http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jacs.5b10928 ).
Outside of work, Matthew is a keen footballer, organising the Lab five-a-side team and particularly enjoys watching Watford FC. He is an avid reader and thoroughly enjoys watching a good film with some good friends.
Publications
- Structure and Biocatalytic Scope of Coclaurine N-Methyltransferase. M. R. Bennett, M. L. Thompson, S. A. Shepherd, M. S. Dunstan, A. J. Herbert, D. R. M. Smith, V. A. Cronin, B. R. K. Menon, C. Levy & J. Micklefield Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2018 in press. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.201805060)
- Recent Advances in Methyltransferase Biocatalysis. M.R. Bennett, S.A. Shepherd, V.A. Cronin, J. Micklefield Current Opinion in Chemical Biology. 2017, in press.
- An Enzyme Cascade for Selective Modification of Tyrosine
Residues in Structurally Diverse Peptides and Proteins. A.-W. Struck, M. R. Bennett, S. A. Shepherd, B. J. C. Law, Y. Zhuo, L. S. Wong, J. Micklefield J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2016 138, 3038-3045. (http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/jacs.5b10928) - Effects of Active Site Modification and Quaternary Structure on the Regioselectivity of Catechol-O-Methyltransferase. B. J. C. Law, M. R. Bennett, M. L. Thompson, C. Levy, Sarah A. Shepherd, D. Leys, and J. Micklefield Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2016 55: 2683-2687 (http://dx.doi.org/)
- Site-specific bioalkylation of Rapamycin by the RapM 16-O-methyltransferase. B. J. C. Law, A.-W. Struck, M. R. Bennett, B. Wilkinson and J. Micklefield Chemical Science 2015 6, 2885-2892 DOI:10.1039/C5SC00164A