Main Funders: 
IRC, SFI 

Active research programmes: 
Activity based probes, which mimic an enzyme substrate or protein binding partner but contain a chemical trap, are powerful tools in biological research.  

​​Our laboratory focuses on the synthesis of new activity based probes for chemical biology and molecular physiology applications. Current research focuses on DNA damage repair and deubiquitinating enzymes (DUBs) as two key regulatory classes of enzyme. 

DNA crosslinks are a highly cytotoxic form of DNA damage. DNA damage repair enzymes play a vital role in the repair of such DNA lesions. DNA crosslinking is exploited by some anti-cancer chemotherapeutics and therefore, inhibition of DNA repair enzymes could improve the success of such drugs. Research in the group focuses on the synthesis of inhibitors and activity-based probes for poorly characterised nucleases such as SNM1A.