Author: Michael J. Gait

Mike Blackburn has been active in chemical biology research for over 50 years, beginning with chemical synthesis of a substrate analogue for ribosomal peptide synthesis (J. Mol. Biol., 1965, 13, 617-628). He studied enzyme mechanisms with W. P. Jencks (Brandeis University, 1966-7) and launched into the use of stable analogues of phosphate esters and anhydrides for studies on nucleotides and glycolysis intermediates from the late ‘70s. This has culminated in the current use of metal fluorides to generate transition state analogues for phosphoryl transfer reactions by kinases, mutases, and isomerases. He has authored some 300 research papers, several patents, one book (“Nucleic Acids in Chemistry and Biology, 3rd Edition, RSC 2005), and is a co-author for more than 70 structures in the Protein Data Bank.