Dr Michael J. Booth
Royal Society University Research Fellow
Lecturer in Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Biography
I studied for an MChem degree at the University of Southampton, which included research projects in the groups of Professor Martin Grossel, Professor Ali Tavassoli, and Professor George Attard. As part of my undergraduate degree I also undertook a placement at the Université de Montréal, Canada, under the supervision of Professor Stephen Michnick. I carried out my PhD at the University of Cambridge under the supervision of Professor Sir Shankar Balasubramanian, developing sequencing techniques for modified cytosine bases. I then worked in the group of Professor Hagan Bayley at the University of Oxford as a postdoctoral researcher and Junior Research Fellow at Merton College, Oxford. At Oxford, I developed light-activated DNA technology to control cell-free protein expression within synthetic cells. I started my independent research career in 2018 with a Royal Society University Research Fellowship in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Oxford. In 2022, I moved to the Department of Chemistry at University College London to begin a Lectureship in Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology.
Positions
Royal Society University Research Fellow
Merton College Supernumerary Fellow
Oxford University Innovation (OUI) Champion
Coeliac UK Research Award Panel member
Awards
2021 EPSRC New Investigator Award
2019 Biochemical Society Early Career Research Award for Biotechnology
2018 SCG Innovation Fund Young Researcher Award
2018 Oxford Maths, Physical and Life Sciences Impact Awards: Early Career Researcher
2017 Oxford Innovation Society Fellowship: Research Fellow
2015 Scopus Early Career Researcher UK Award: Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology (Video)
Booth Research Group 