Professor Tom Brown FRSC FRSE

I am Professor of Nucleic Acid Chemistry at Oxford University. I work on applications of nucleic acids in biology and medicine (diagnostics and therapeutics). I am co-inventor of technologies for genetic analysis and co-founder of three Biotech companies: Oswel (custom oligonucleotide synthesis) ATDBio (synthesis of modified oligonucleotides) and Primer Design (DNA-based diagnostics). Awards include the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) Josef Loschmidt prize, the Royal Society of Chemistry prizes for Nucleic Acid Chemistry and for Interdisciplinary Research, and the 2023 RSC Khorana Prize for work at the chemistry and life science interface. I was Chemistry World entrepreneur of the year in 2014 and BBSRC Innovator of the Year in 2016.

My current interests are in the areas of gene editing, chemical modification of mRNA, and developing new artificial DNA backbones to improve the properties of therapeutic oligonucleotides. I have published over 450 research papers and patents in the nucleic acid field.