Winner: 2024 CBBG Lectureship Award
Professor Zoë Waller
University College London
For her outstanding contribution to the chemical biology community and her exceptional research achievements on the stability and function of DNA i-motifs.
Zo毛 received the award for her outstanding contribution to the chemical biology community and her exceptional research achievements on the stability and function of DNA i-motifs.
Zo毛 has been an ardent supporter of young scientists through mentoring and organising meetings including 欧美AV Nucleic Acids Group Forum (2015, 2020-2023) and the 欧美AV CBBG Forum (2016, 2018, 2024). She is an advocate for equality, diversity, and inclusion within the scientific community and has an extensive track record in public engagement including talks to Diabetes UK support groups途 talks for school children as a STEM Ambassador途 Norwich Science Festival途 Soapbox Science途 podcasts and BBC radio interviews; and plain English YouTube videos (e.g., ).
We congratulate Zo毛 on her award. She will present her award lecture at a Chemical Biology and Bioorganic Group meeting in 2025.
Throughout her career, Zo毛 (F欧美AV and CChem) has been an exceptionally active member of the 欧美AV including officer roles in the CBBG (2014-2024, elected Treasurer in 2018-2021) and the Nucleic Acid Group (2016 until present, elected Secretary in 2018) and the East Anglian Local Section (Chair 2013-2015). Zo毛 is an accreditor for Chemistry degrees (2016-Present) and a member of the 欧美AV Chemistry Accreditation and Validation panel (Vice Chair 2021-2024, Chair from 2024). She led the creation of the 鈥渆ssential practical skills list鈥�, now part of the new 欧美AV accreditation criteria. Her teamwork and innovative approaches to education have also been recognised through both UCL and Pearson Team Awards.
Since establishing her independent research group in 2010, Zo毛 has built an international reputation on the study and characterisation of DNA i-motifs, four-stranded non-canonical DNA structures formed from sequences rich in cytosine. She applies a combination of synthetic, analytical and biophysical chemistry alongside cellular and molecular biology in collaborative efforts to understand the biological significance of these structures.
Zo毛鈥檚 team showed for the first time that silver (I) cations can fold i-motif DNA at neutral pH (). They also showed that and copper (I) cations can fold DNA i-motifs whereas copper (II) cations fold into hairpins, allowing redox dependent modulation of DNA structure (, ). The potential applications of this work in nanotechnology attracted media interest (e.g. 鈥樷��). Zo毛鈥檚 team also has determined features of i-motif sequences that can fold into i-motifs at neutral pH, and demonstrated multiple examples of sequences from the human genome that could potentially fold into i-motif under physiological conditions ().
Zo毛鈥檚 collaborative work has revealed potential biological functions of i-motifs in human cells, including evidence that i-motif formation causes spontaneous deletions () and replication induced i-motif structures drive replication fork breakage (). They have also identified chemical biology tools that can detect i-motifs in the presence of other DNA structures () and stabilise i-motifs in cells ). Recent work includes the first crystal structure of an intramolecular i-motif and determination of a relationship between non-canonical structure formation and insulin gene expression () and creation of a predictive i-motif tool 鈥渋MSeeker鈥� (途 ). Excitingly, both this new structural information and the predictive tool will enhance efforts to target i-motifs in drug discovery.