Michael Rowlinson studied for an MChem degree in Chemistry with Medicinal Chemistry at the University of Manchester from 2015-2018. He spent the final year of his undergraduate degree studying the use of Halogenase enzymes in combination with transition metal catalysts in integrated catalysis processes to generate small molecules of potential interest within a biological context. This project was supervised by Professor Jason Micklefield.
In addition to his final year project, Mike undertook an 8-week summer research placement under the supervision of Dr. Rodger Whitehead. This project involved the use of extensive chemical synthesis in combination with biocatalytic enantiomeric resolution processes in order to generate a small molecule chemical compound which was to be investigated for its potential as an anti-cancer treatment.
Mike started his PhD work within the Micklefield group in 2018 and is currently investigating the use of Ligase enzymes for the formation of amide bonds, in addition to other work focussing on the generation of synthetic molecules capable of acting as a clinical treatment for COVID-19.
Mike has experience in chemical synthesis, protein expression and purification, and various analytical techniques such as NMR, HPLC, SDS-PAGE, and mass spectrometry.
In his free time, Mike enjoys playing instruments, reading, hiking and bouldering.
Publications:
- Discovery, characterization and engineering of ligases for amide synthesis. M. Winn, M. Rowlinson, F. Wang, L. Bering, D. Francis, C. Levy & J. Micklefield Nature, 2021, 593, 391-398. DOI: (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03447-w)