Laboratory of Chemical Biology

Profile

Prof. Jacek Jemielity
e-mail: j.jemielity@cent.uw.edu.pl
phone: +48 22 55 43774
room: 06.44
ORCID: 0000-0001-7633-788X
SCOPUS ID: 6603139359

Laboratory of Chemical Biology is focused on the synthesis, properties and applications of modified nucleotides (including analogs of mRNA 5’ cap, nucleoside triphosphates, nucleotide sugars, nucleoside phosphosulfates and many others). The main goal of our research is to create tools useful for elucidating biological processes involving nucleotides and to find new potential nucleotide-derived therapeutics.

To do so, we develop new synthetic methods for the chemical and enzymatic synthesis of nucleotides and their analogs. We are particularly interested in the synthesis and properties of nucleotides modified within the phosphate moieties. We design nucleotide analogs that increase cellular stability of mRNA and nucleotide-derived inhibitors of protein biosynthesis with increased stability under cellular conditions. We synthesize fluorescently labeled nucleotides, nucleotides with affinity tags as well as nucleotide-probes for NMR and EPR experiments. We also prepare and evaluate conjugates of nucleotides with nano(bio)materials.

The laboratory operates in two locations – team uses the hospitality of the Department of Biophysics, Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw.

Leader

Professor Jacek Jemielity was born in 1973 in Wysokie Mazowieckie. He graduated from the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Warsaw in 1997. He obtained his Ph.D. in 2002 at the same faculty, and his habilitation in 2012. He also worked at the Department of Biophysics IFD at the Faculty of Physics at the University of Warsaw. He also gained research experience at the French Institute of Structural Biology and the Finnish University of Turku. He received the title of professor in 2020.

Professor Jacek Jemielity specializes in organic, biological and biochemistry chemistry. He is one of the world leaders in research on chemically modified mRNA. He is the head of the Laboratory of Chemical Biology at the Centre of New Technologies of the University of Warsaw. He has supervised 12 Ph.D.s, 30 MSc. students, 14 BSc. students, and is or was a mentor for 17 postdoctoral fellows. He is also the co-founder and president of ExploRNA Therapeutics – a spin-off company of the University of Warsaw, which develops technologies based on the modification of the so-called cap, located at the 5′ end of mRNA.

He has implemented grants from, among others, the National Science Centre and the Foundation for Polish Science (TEAM), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He is the co-author of over 140 publications (including in Nature Communications, Nature Chemistry, Nature Chemical Biology, Nature Molecular & Structural Biology, Journal of the American Chemical Society, Angewandte Chemistry Int. Ed., Chemical Science, Nucleic Acids Research, RNA, Organic Letters and others), which have been cited over 3.9 thousand times, and the Hirsch index is 36. He is the inventor of 14 patents or patent applications (two licensed by BioNTech, 4 by ExploRNA). He is the co-creator of several technologies related to mRNA modification for therapeutic purposes, and one of his inventions is used in several clinical trials. He is a member of the Advisory Board of Molecular Therapy Nucleic Acids (Cell Press). He is also a member of many expert teams, an expert of research funding agencies and boards of scientific institutes. In the term 2024-28 he was appointed Vice-Chairman of the FNP Council.

For his achievements he has been awarded many times, including the “Polityka” Scientific Award for young scientists, the Economic Award of the President of the Republic of Poland, the Awards of the Rector of the University of Warsaw, he was nominated for the European Inventor Award, awarded by the European Patent Office. In 2021 he received the Foundation for Polish Science Award in the field of chemical and materials sciences for developing chemical modifications of mRNA as tools for therapeutic applications and research on cellular processes.

Team

Leader
Prof. Jacek Jemielity

Lab manager
Sebastian Chmieliński, MSc, Eng

Postdocs
Jan Bojanowski, PhD
Mikołaj Chromiński, PhD
Katarzyna Frankowska, PhD, EnG
Adam Rajkiewicz, PhD
Małgorzata Wąsińska-Kałwa, PhD
Mikołaj Żmudziński, PhD

PhD Students
Piotr Surynt, MSc
Kamil Ziemkiewicz, MSc
Antoni Rząca, MSc
Teodor Olejko, MSc

Research technicians
Marta Szulc-Gąsiorowska, MSc

Students
Aleksandra Radziszewska
Sebastian Macioszek
Barbara Jagiełło

Selected projects

Selected publications

• Grab K., Fido M., Spiewla T., Warminski M., Jemielity J., Kowalska J.
  Aptamer-based assay for high-throughput substrate profiling of RNA decapping enzymes
  Nucleic Acids Research, 52 (21), pp. e100
  DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkae919
• Warminski M., Grab K., Szczepanski K., Spiewla T., Zuberek J., Kowalska J., Jemielity J.
  Photoactivatable mRNA 5′ Cap Analogs for RNA-Protein Crosslinking
  (2024) Advanced Science, 11 (36), art. no. 2400994
  DOI: 10.1002/advs.202400994
• Warminski M., Depaix A., Ziemkiewicz K., Spiewla T., Zuberek J., Drazkowska K., Kedzierska H., Popielec A., Baranowski M.R., Sklucka M., Bednarczyk M., Smietanski M., Wolosewicz K., Majewski B., Serwa R.A., Nowis D., Golab J., Kowalska J., Jemielity J.
  Trinucleotide cap analogs with triphosphate chain modifications: synthesis, properties, and evaluation as mRNA capping reagents
  (2024) Nucleic Acids Research, 52 (18), pp. 10788 – 10809
  DOI: 10.1093/nar/gkae763
• Warminski M., Trepkowska E., Smietanski M., Sikorski P.J., Baranowski M.R., Bednarczyk M., Kedzierska H., Majewski B., Mamot A., Papiernik D., Popielec A., Serwa R.A., Shimanski B.A., Sklepkiewicz P., Sklucka M., Sokolowska O., Spiewla T., Toczydlowska-Socha D., Warminska Z., Wolosewicz K., Zuberek J., Mugridge J.S., Nowis D., Golab J., Jemielity J., Kowalska J.
  Trinucleotide mRNA Cap Analogue N6-Benzylated at the Site of Posttranscriptional m6Am Mark Facilitates mRNA Purification and Confers Superior Translational Properties In Vitro and In Vivo
  (2024) Journal of the American Chemical Society, 146 (12), pp. 8149 – 8163
  DOI: 10.1021/jacs.3c12629
• Zhang H.-J., Ociepa M., Nassir M., Zheng B., Lewicki S.A., Salmaso V., Baburi H., Nagel J., Mirza S., Bueschbell B., Al-Hroub H., Perzanowska O., Lin Z., Schmidt M.A., Eastgate M.D., Jacobson K.A., Müller C.E., Kowalska J., Jemielity J., Baran P.S.
  Stereocontrolled access to thioisosteres of nucleoside di- and triphosphates
  (2024) Nature Chemistry, 16 (2), pp. 249 – 258
  DOI: 10.1038/s41557-023-01347-2
• Warminski M., Mamot A., Depaix A., Kowalska J., Jemielity J.
  Chemical Modifications of mRNA Ends for Therapeutic Applications
  (2023) Accounts of Chemical Research, 56 (20), pp. 2814 – 2826
  DOI: 10.1021/acs.accounts.3c00442
• Zmudzinski M., Rut W., Olech K., Granda J., Giurg M., Burda-Grabowska M., Kaleta R., Zgarbova M., Kasprzyk R., Zhang L., Sun X., Lv Z., Nayak D., Kesik-Brodacka M., Olsen S.K., Weber J., Hilgenfeld R., Jemielity J., Drag M.
  Ebselen derivatives inhibit SARS-CoV-2 replication by inhibition of its essential proteins: PLpro and Mpro proteases, and nsp14 guanine N7-methyltransferase
  (2023) Scientific Reports, 13 (1), art. no. 9161
  DOI: 10.1038/s41598-023-35907-w
• Mamot A., Sikorski PJ, Siekierska A, de Witte P, Kowalska J, Jemielity J.
  Ethylenediamine derivatives efficiently react with oxidized RNA 3ends providing access to mono and dually labelled RNA probes for enzymatic assays and in vivo translation.
  Nucleic Acids Research 50, pp. e3
  DOI:10.1093/nar/gkab867
• Kleczewska N., Sikorski P.J., Warminska Z., Markiewicz L., Kasprzyk R., Baran N., Kwapiszewska K., Karpinska A., Michalski J., Holyst R., Kowalska J., Jemielity J.
  Cellular delivery of dinucleotides by conjugation with small molecules: targeting translation initiation for anticancer applications
  (2021) Chemical Science 12 (30), pp. 10242-10251
  DOI: 10.1039/d1sc02143e
• Tibble RW, Depaix A., Kowalska J., Jemielity J., Gross J. D.
  Biomolecular condensates amplify mRNA decapping by coupling protein interactions with conformational changes in Dcp1/Dcp2.
  (2021) Nature Chem. Biol. 17 (5), pp. 615-623
  DOI:10.1038/s41589-021-00774-x

Contact

Prof. Jacek Jemielity
e-mail: j.jemielity@cent.uw.edu.pl
phone: +48 22 55 43774
room: 06.44