Team P(V)

Michael Schmidt: This work is exciting as it allows rapid access to a new chemical space in a wide number of modalities containing phosphorous, from chiral ligands, to bioconjugate probes and new frontiers in ASO research, to name a few.  

Bin Zheng: This project spans multiple fields from small molecules to ASOs. Requiring people with expertise in different areas, such as innovative concepts, analytical methods, drug discovery, solid phase synthesis and scaleup for material supply. Each member of the team brought necessary skills to the success of the project.  

Yazhong Huang: Because chiral PS oligos and oligos with other linkages can be easily synthesized through P(V) chemistry, they will certainly trigger more extensive studies of their physicochemical and pharmacologic properties, and their impacts on clinical efficacy and safety profiles. 

Martin Eastgate: Hopefully, researchers outside of our team will find use in these reagents and explore the implications of chimeric oligonucleotides as therapeutic agents – gathering data around the implications of site-specific modifications enabled through this technology. The next step in oligonucleotide synthesis is to explore new solid-phase supports that can continue to deliver improved yields and higher loadings to improve the sustainability of oligonucleotide manufacturing. We hope researchers will find these reagents useful and push the science in new directions!  

Jason Zhu: Taking risks and aiming high to impact chemical research in a fundamental way.  

Professor Phil Baran: Truly great things are possible when a team of talented scientists bringing unique skills to the table are all focused on a common mission. Without this collaboration I doubt this chemistry would have come to be. 

Michael Schmidt: The importance of collaboration cannot be understated.  The union of many different groups with many different points of view provides multiple angles of attack at a problem.  Our work, was a discovery chemistry challenge, with a process chemistry inspired concept and many academic solutions, extensions and applications.  This work would not have been possible in a silo. 

Martin Eastgate: Collaboration is critical in any field, but especially in STEM. Taking on big scientific challenges requires multiple perspectives, insight gain from diverse experiences and a team spirit to overcome the numerous obstacles faced in research. One of the main drivers of success of our team was bringing together medicinal chemists, process chemists and academic researchers to take on a big challenge in a new way. The different views and perspectives from each member of the team helped us identify issues, solve problems quickly and seek novel applications where this work could have impact. This work could not have existed without this team’s exceptional collaborative spirit. 

Martin Eastgate: Have fun, follow your passion, collaborate and approach problems with an open mind!