Contact information
matthew.wood@paediatrics.ox.ac.uk
01865 272419
01865 282840
Louise Gillane
mjaw-pa@paediatrics.ox.ac.uk
Research groups
Matthew Wood
Professor of Neuroscience
Matthew Wood graduated in Medicine from the University of Cape Town in 1987, working in clinical Neuroscience before gaining a doctorate in Physiological Sciences from the University of Oxford in 1993. He is currently University Lecturer, and Fellow and Tutor in Medicine and Physiology at Somerville College.
Matthew’s research is in field of gene therapy for degenerative disorders of the nervous system and muscle. The main focus is the investigation of novel therapeutic approaches utilising short nucleic acids to target messenger RNA. Targeting RNA has the potential to allow modification of the target transcript, reprogramming of endogenous genetic defects or the targeting of specific disease alleles, all the while maintaining endogenous regulation of the target gene. Current work is investigating the potential of single-stranded antisense oligonucleotides for the modification of mRNA splicing, for example in Duchenne muscular dystrophy. In addition, the potential of double-stranded RNA for gene silencing, known as RNA interference (RNAi), is being investigated for the silencing of target genes and mutant alleles both in muscle and in the nervous system. In particular, RNAi has great potential as a future therapeutic agent for currently untreatable neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease.
Key publications
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Delivery of siRNA to the mouse brain by systemic injection of targeted exosomes.
Journal article
Alvarez-Erviti L. et al, (2011), Nat Biotechnol, 29, 341 - 345
Recent publications
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Covalently attached intercalators restore duplex stability and splice-switching activity to triazole-modified oligonucleotides
Journal article
Dysko A. et al, (2022), RSC Chemical Biology
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AR cooperates with SMAD4 to maintain skeletal muscle homeostasis.
Journal article
Forouhan M. et al, (2022), Acta Neuropathol
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Impact assessments of wind farms on seabird populations that overlook existing drivers of demographic change should be treated with caution
Journal article
Horswill C. et al, (2022), Conservation Science and Practice, 4
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Proof of concept of peptide-linked blockmiR-induced MBNL functional rescue in myotonic dystrophy type 1 mouse model
Journal article
Overby SJ. et al, (2022), Molecular Therapy - Nucleic Acids, 27, 1146 - 1155
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Non-uniform dystrophin re-expression after CRISPR-mediated exon excision in the dystrophin/utrophin double-knockout mouse model of DMD
Hanson B. et al, (2022)