Dr Emma Watson
Lecturer
School of Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences
Faculty of Sciences, Engineering and Technology
Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.
Emma Watson obtained her PhD from the University of Sydney, under the supervision of Professor Richard Payne, where her research focused on the chemical synthesis of post-translationally modified proteins. She then undertook a postdoctoral position in the laboratory of Professor Nicolas Winssinger at the University of Geneva, as an EMBO Postdoctoral Fellow.
Emma has recently returned to Australia as a Lecturer in Medicinal Chemistry, in the School of Physical Sciences. Her research focuses on using biomolecules as building blocks to develop smart, responsive systems for therapeutic applications.
One of the fundamental principles of life is being able to sense and respond to changes in the environment. By developing smart drugs and therapeutic agents capable of this type of molecular logic we can help improve their selectivity, and therefore reduce toxicity. Such systems have three key components: the inputs (this is the part capable of binding to a target molecule or sensing a change), the outputs (this is the part that does something in response to this new information i.e. release a drug) and the circuitry (this is the part that connects the inputs and the outputs, helping to transfer the information). Much like a computer, these components can be wired together to form a functional system, with the individual parts able to be swapped in and out in a modular manner to rapidly create new systems, capable of targeting new problems.
My research focuses on using biomolecules (peptides, proteins, nucleic acids) as the key components in such responsive systems. These systems are underpinned by a combination of organic synthesis, solid phase peptide and nucleic acid synthesis, photocatalysis and bioconjugation to create final functional systems.
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Appointments
Date Position Institution name 2022 - ongoing Lecturer in Medicinal Chemistry University of Adelaide 2020 - 2022 EMBO Postdoctoral Fellow, Winssinger Group The University of Geneva -
Education
Date Institution name Country Title 2015 - 2019 University of Sydney Australia PhD 2011 - 2014 University of Sydney Australia BSc (Hons) -
Research Interests
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Journals
Year Citation 2024 Carson, L. M., & Watson, E. (2024). Peptide Nucleic Acids: From Origami to Editing. ChemPlusChem, e202400305-1-e202400305-11.
2023 Lopez Tena, M., Watson, E. E., Romanens, P., & Winssinger, N. (2023). Rapid Synthesis of Propargyl‐modified Peptide Nucleic Acid Monomers for Late‐Stage Functionalization of Oligomers. Helvetica Chimica Acta, 106(11), 14 pages.
Scopus12023 Maxwell, J. W. C., Hawkins, P. M. E., Watson, E. E., & Payne, R. J. (2023). Exploiting Chemical Protein Synthesis to Study the Role of Tyrosine Sulfation on Anticoagulants from Hematophagous Organisms. Accounts of Chemical Research, 56(19), 2688-2699.
Scopus5 Europe PMC22022 Watson, E. E., & Winssinger, N. (2022). Synthesis of Protein-Oligonucleotide Conjugates. Biomolecules, 12(10), 1523.
Scopus3 WoS1 Europe PMC22022 Dowman, L. J., Kulkarni, S. S., Alegre-Requena, J. V., Giltrap, A. M., Norman, A. R., Sharma, A., . . . Payne, R. J. (2022). Site-selective photocatalytic functionalization of peptides and proteins at selenocysteine. Nature Communications, 13(1), 1-12.
Scopus14 Europe PMC52022 Watson, E. E., Russo, F., Moreau, D., & Winssinger, N. (2022). Optochemical Control of Therapeutic Agents through Photocatalyzed Isomerization. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 61(28), 1-8.
Scopus7 WoS3 Europe PMC52022 Watson, E. E., Russo, F., Moreau, D., & Winssinger, N. (2022). Optochemical Control of Therapeutic Agents through Photocatalyzed Isomerization. Angewandte Chemie, 134(28), 1-8.
2022 Watson, E. E., Russo, F., Moreau, D., & Winssinger, N. (2022). Titelbild: Optochemical Control of Therapeutic Agents through Photocatalyzed Isomerization (Angew. Chem. 28/2022). Angewandte Chemie, 134(28).
2022 Kulkarni, S. S., Watson, E. E., Maxwell, J. W. C., Niederacher, G., Johansen‐Leete, J., Huhmann, S., . . . Payne, R. J. (2022). Expressed Protein Selenoester Ligation. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 61(20), e202200163-1-e202200163-6.
Scopus20 WoS6 Europe PMC122022 Watson, E. E., & Winssinger, N. (2022). Biosupramolecular networks: Taking inspiration from nature to create powerful synthetic platforms. Current Opinion in Chemical Biology, 66, 1-8.
Scopus3 WoS32022 Watson, E. E., Russo, F., Moreau, D., & Winssinger, N. (2022). Cover Picture: Optochemical Control of Therapeutic Agents through Photocatalyzed Isomerization (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 28/2022). Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 61(28).
2021 Watson, E. E., Angerani, S., Sabale, P. M., & Winssinger, N. (2021). Biosupramolecular Systems: Integrating Cues into Responses. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 143(12), 4467-4482.
Scopus26 Europe PMC82021 Agten, S. M., Watson, E. E., Ripoll‐Rozada, J., Dowman, L. J., Wu, M. C. L., Alwis, I., . . . Payne, R. J. (2021). Back Cover: Potent Trivalent Inhibitors of Thrombin through Hybridization of Salivary Sulfopeptides from Hematophagous Arthropods (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 10/2021). Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 60(10), 5570.
2021 Agten, S. M., Watson, E. E., Ripoll‐Rozada, J., Dowman, L. J., Wu, M. C. L., Alwis, I., . . . Payne, R. J. (2021). Rücktitelbild: Potent Trivalent Inhibitors of Thrombin through Hybridization of Salivary Sulfopeptides from Hematophagous Arthropods (Angew. Chem. 10/2021). Angewandte Chemie, 133(10), 5632.
2021 Agten, S. M., Watson, E. E., Ripoll‐Rozada, J., Dowman, L. J., Wu, M. C. L., Alwis, I., . . . Payne, R. J. (2021). Potent Trivalent Inhibitors of Thrombin through Hybridization of Salivary Sulfopeptides from Hematophagous Arthropods. Angewandte Chemie, 133(10), 5408-5416.
2021 Agten, S. M., Watson, E. E., Ripoll‐Rozada, J., Dowman, L. J., Wu, M. C. L., Alwis, I., . . . Payne, R. J. (2021). Potent Trivalent Inhibitors of Thrombin through Hybridization of Salivary Sulfopeptides from Hematophagous Arthropods. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 60(10), 5348-5356.
Scopus12 WoS8 Europe PMC52021 Liu, W., Watson, E. E., & Winssinger, N. (2021). Photocatalysis in Chemical Biology: Extending the Scope of Optochemical Control and Towards New Frontiers in Semisynthetic Bioconjugates and Biocatalysis. Helvetica Chimica Acta, 104(12), 14 pages.
Scopus8 WoS52021 Duggan, N. M., Saez, N. J., Clayton, D., Budusan, E., Watson, E. E., Tucker, I. J., . . . Payne, R. J. (2021). Total Synthesis of the Spider-Venom Peptide Hi1a. Organic Letters, 23(21), 8375-8379.
Scopus10 Europe PMC32020 Wang, X., Ashhurst, A. S., Dowman, L. J., Watson, E. E., Li, H. Y., Fairbanks, A. J., . . . Payne, R. J. (2020). Total Synthesis of Glycosylated Human Interferon-γ. Organic Letters, 22(17), 6863-6867.
Scopus22 Europe PMC52019 Kulkarni, S. S., Watson, E. E., Premdjee, B., Conde-Frieboes, K. W., & Payne, R. J. (2019). Diselenide–selenoester ligation for chemical protein synthesis. Nature Protocols, 14(7), 2229-2257.
Scopus58 Europe PMC192019 Watson, E. E., Ripoll-Rozada, J., Lee, A. C., Wu, M. C. L., Franck, C., Pasch, T., . . . Payne, R. J. (2019). Rapid assembly and profiling of an anticoagulant sulfoprotein library. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 116(28), 13873-13878.
Scopus24 WoS20 Europe PMC82019 Pinto, M. F., Ripoll-Rozada, J., Ramos, H., Watson, E. E., Franck, C., Payne, R. J., . . . Martins, P. M. (2019). A simple linearization method unveils hidden enzymatic assay interferences. Biophysical Chemistry, 252, 106193.
Scopus72018 Conibear, A. C., Watson, E. E., Payne, R. J., & Becker, C. F. W. (2018). Native chemical ligation in protein synthesis and semi-synthesis. Chemical Society Reviews, 47(24), 9046-9068.
Scopus228 WoS154 Europe PMC952018 Watson, E. E., Liu, X., Thompson, R. E., Ripoll-Rozada, J., Wu, M., Alwis, I., . . . Payne, R. J. (2018). Mosquito-Derived Anophelin Sulfoproteins Are Potent Antithrombotics. ACS Central Science, 4(4), 468-476.
Scopus322017 Tran, A. T., Watson, E. E., Pujari, V., Conroy, T., Dowman, L. J., Giltrap, A. M., . . . Payne, R. J. (2017). Sansanmycin natural product analogues as potent and selective anti-mycobacterials that inhibit lipid i biosynthesis. Nature Communications, 8(1), 9 pages.
Scopus43 WoS36 Europe PMC182017 Hanna, C. C., Kulkarni, S. S., Watson, E. E., Premdjee, B., & Payne, R. J. (2017). Solid-phase synthesis of peptide selenoesters via a side-chain anchoring strategy. Chemical Communications, 53(39), 5424-5427.
Scopus30 WoS26 Europe PMC112015 Manos-Turvey, A., Watson, E. E., Sykes, M. L., Jones, A. J., Baell, J. B., Kaiser, M., . . . Payne, R. J. (2015). Synthesis and evaluation of phenoxymethylbenzamide analogues as anti-trypanosomal agents. MedChemComm, 6(3), 403-406.
Scopus7 WoS6- Watson, E. E., & Payne, R. J. (n.d.). 4-Nitrophenylchloroformate. Unknown Journal, 1-5.
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Book Chapters
Year Citation 2021 Watson, E. E., Malins, L. R., & Payne, R. J. (2021). Expanding Native Chemical Ligation Methodology with Synthetic Amino Acid Derivatives. In A. Brik, P. Dawson, & L. Lei (Eds.), Total Chemical Synthesis of Proteins (pp. 119-159). Weinheim, Germany: Wiley.
DOI Scopus3
2023 ARC - Discovery Project DP230100186: Site-specific protein functionalisation at diselenides via photocatalysis
2021 European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) Post-Doctoral Fellowship
2021 HFSP Post-Doctoral Fellowship (declined)
2023 - Semester 2
3214: Medicinal & Biological Chemistry III
2540: Medicinal & Biological Chemistry II
2023 - Semester 1
1100: Chemistry 1A
2022 - Semester 2
3214: Medicinal & Biological Chemistry III
2540: Medicinal & Biological Chemistry II
2021-2022
First year laboratory supervisor, The University of Geneva
2015 - 2017
Postgraduate teaching fellow, The University of Sydney
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Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name 2024 Co-Supervisor Biomimetic Synthesis of Natural Products Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Matthew Alexander Coleman 2024 Principal Supervisor PNA and peptide based development of medicinally active molecular switches Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Rachel Josephine Tishler 2023 Co-Supervisor Investigating Selenium Speciation with HERFD-XAS Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Ms Ani Tania Baker 2023 Principal Supervisor Developing new methods for drug release targeting cell surface receptor density. Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Maya Liza Doyle 2023 Principal Supervisor The Controlled Release of Therapeutic Agents Utilising Nucleic Acid Analogs Master of Philosophy Master Full Time Mr Liam Matthew Carson 2023 Co-Supervisor Fundamental understanding of DNA triplex formation and its antigene properties to control gene expression Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Sarveenah R G Chandrasegaran
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