Prof Jonathan Watts

Scientific Board - Therapeutics

Professor Watts is a leader in the development of therapeutic oligonucleotides. Jon’s doctoral work included the development of two new oligonucleotide analogues, an exploration of why 2'-fluorinated oligonucleotides show such high binding affinity, and studies on the chemical modification of ASOs and siRNAs. He then moved to Professor David Corey's lab at UT Southwestern for postdoctoral studies, where his work included the chemical modification of promoter-targeted duplex RNAs and the use of oligonucleotide-oligospermine conjugates as antisense and antigene oligonucleotides. In 2012 Jon started his independent group at the University of Southampton, UK, where he received the 2013 Young Investigator Award from the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society and the 2015 Vice Chancellor’s Award for teaching. In summer 2015 he was recruited to the RNA Therapeutics Institute at UMass Medical School.  He serves on the Editorial Boards of Nucleic Acid Therapeutics and Nucleic Acids Research in addition to the Scientific Advisory Council of the OTS. The Watts Group is developing new approaches in the medicinal chemistry of several classes of oligonucleotides, along with novel tools for sequencing and synthetic biology.