Prof. Ruyi Zhu (朱如意)

   National University of Singapore

   报告时间：12月05日 16:00-17:30

   报告地点：4号楼 600会议室

   邀请人：商明 副教授

报告人简介

新加坡国立大学化学系，助理教授。2013年本科毕业于北京大学化学与分子工程学院，2018年在Scripps研究所获得博士学位，师从余金权教授。2019-2021年在斯坦福大学Eric T. Kool教授课题组进行博士后研究。2021年底，加入新加坡国立大学开展独立研究工作。目前研究主要聚焦于两个方向：基于DNA分子新型催化策略的开发，以及新一代RNA疗法的探索。曾获ACP Lectureship Award (China), Presidential Young Professorship等多项奖项。

报告摘要

DNA is an underexplored scaffold for asymmetric catalysis. Its structure can be programmed to adopt enzyme-like 3-D structure or even architectures resembling MOF/COF. In this talk, I will discuss how we harness ubiquitous phosphates for ion-pairing DNA catalysis and how the helical structure of DNA, in conjunction with a bimetallic center, facilitates a new mode of sterecontrol. This bimetallic DNA catalyst enables the construction of 2- and 3-consecutive stereogenic carbon centers with switchable enantioselectivity, which is infeasible by any other means. In the latter part of the talk, I will introduce a new strategy for RNA delivery, a major bottleneck for RNA therapeutics. We leverage post-synthetic RNA acylation and disulfide exchange chemistry for RNA delivery and conjugation. I will talk about thiol-mediated RNA delivery via non-endocytosis pathway and GalNAc-mediated cell-selective RNA delivery. This “install-deliver-release” strategy is applicable to any RNA with any length.