Research Interests:
Development of novel methods for the preparation of modified oligonucleotides
(DNA and RNA); Application of the synthetic oligonucleotides in a wide variety
of biological studies, particularly in DNA damage and repair.
Research Funding:
Cancer Research Campaign (Cancer Research UK), The Open University, The Royal
Society, Chinese Academy of Sciences, K.C. Wong Education Foundation, UK-HK
joint research scheme
Recent Publications:
4-thio-5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine: chemical synthesis and therapeutic potential
of UVA-induced DNA damage
Y.-Z. Xu, .X. Zhang, H.-C. Wu, A. Massey, P. Karran, Bioorganic & Medicinal
Chemistry Letters, 14, 995-997 (2004)
Synthetic chemistry of base-modified DNA in "Modified Nucleosides,
Y.-Z. Xu, Synthesis and Applications" (D. Loakes. Ed), pp1-16, (2002) Published
by Research Signpost.
Ambiguous coding is required for the lethal interaction between
methylated DNA bases and DNA mismatch repair
A. Massey, Y.-Z. Xu, P. Karran DNA Repair 12, (2002) 275-286.
Photoactivation of DNA thiobases as a potential novel therapeutic option
A. Massey, Y.-Z. Xu, P. Karran, Current Biology 11 1142-1146 (2001).
Synthesis and Characterisation of DNA containing
O6-carboxymethylguanine.
Y.-Z. Xu, Tetrahedron 56 6075-6081 (2000).
Thiobase DNA: the chemistry and some applications in cancer studies.
Y.-Z. Xu, Progress in Natural Sciences 10 401-413 (2000).
COST P9 Workings group(s) of interest: