Michael Booth

Associate Professor
m.j.booth@ucl.ac.uk
Based at UCL
Personal website: https://boothlab.uk/

Chemical- and bio-engineering of nucleic acids for biology and medicine

We are entering the age of nucleic acid (DNA/RNA) technologies. Nucleic acids, such as plasmids and small interfering (si)RNA, are essential tools in modern biology to study disease. Cell-free expression systems and synthetic cells are enabling researchers to study biology in new ways. Messenger (m)RNA vaccines have been administered worldwide to overcome the COVID-19 global pandemic and nucleic acids drugs, such as antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), have entered the market that can target genetic diseases not accessible to other modalities. Their potential lies in their ability to target specific genes and regulatory pathways, offering precise and personalised tools and treatments.

In the Booth group, we develop the next generation of nucleic acid technologies, by using chemical modification and bioengineering. We are developing nucleic acid therapeutics, which can be targeted and work through entirely new mechanisms, and synthetic cells, which can be remote-controlled and communicate with living cells. Our next-generation nucleic acid technologies will form the basis of targeted therapeutics and new technologies for basic research.

Selected publications
Magnetic Activation of Spherical Nucleic Acids for the Remote Control of Synthetic Cells. E.Parkes, A.Al Samad, G.Mazzotti, C.Newell, B.Ng, A.Radford, M.J.Booth. Nature Chemistry, 17, 1505 (2025) DOI:10.1038/s41557-025-01909-6

Engineering antisense oligonucleotides for targeted mRNA degradation through lysosomal trafficking. D.Kashyap, T.Milne, M.J.Booth. Chemical Science, 16, 13096 (2025)
DOI:10.1039/D5SC03751D

Orthogonal light-activated DNA for patterned biocomputing within synthetic cells. D.Hartmann, R.Chowdhry, J.M.Smith, M.J.Booth. Journal of the American Chemical Society 145, 17, 9471 (2023) DOI:10.1021/jacs.3c02350

Engineering cellular communication between light-activated synthetic cells and bacteria. J.M.Smith, D.Hartmann, M.J.Booth. Nature Chemical Biology, 19, 1138 (2023) DOI: 10.1038/s41589-023-01374-7

Precise, orthogonal remote-control of cell-free systems using photocaged nucleic acids. G.Mazzotti, D.Hartmann, M.J.Booth. Journal of the American Chemical Society 145, 17, 9481 (2023) DOI:10.1021/jacs.3c01238

Links
UCL Profile: https://profiles.ucl.ac.uk/87501-michael-booth
Personal website: https://boothlab.uk/
Google scholar: https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=c58Hx3AAAAAJ&hl=en
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4224-798X
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-booth-224a1b62/
X: https://x.com/DrMikeBooth
Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/drmikebooth.bsky.social