Contact

• workRoom C20 School of Chemistry
  University Park
  Nottingham
  NG7 2RD
  UK
• work0115 748 7065
• nicholas.mitchell@nottingham.ac.uk
• https://nicholasjmitchell.wixsite.com/themitchellgroup

Biography

Nick was awarded an MChem degree (with an industrial placement) from the University of Southampton in 2004 before joining Prof. Stefan Howorka's group at UCL for his doctoral studies. His PhD project concerned the application of functionalised oligonucleotides to DNA sequencing and nanotechnology (awarded in 2010). He remained at UCL as a postdoctoral research associate under the joint supervision of Prof. Alethea Tabor and Prof. Helen Hailes, developing MRI and SPECT imaging approaches for targeted nucleic acid delivery using 'stealth' lipid nanoparticles. Nick then joined Prof. Richard Payne's group at the University of Sydney to work on new peptide ligation methodologies. In 2016, he was awarded a Nottingham Research Fellowship in the School of Chemistry at the University of Nottingham; he was appointed Assistant Professor of Biological Chemistry in 2019 and promoted to Associate Professor in 2024.

Research Summary

The group's research activities focus on the development of new bioconjugation methodologies. Current projects include the exploration of photocatalytic, biocatalytic, and electrochemical methods for… read more

Selected Publications

• SMITH, F. R., MEEHAN, D., GRIFFITHS, R. C., KNOWLES, H. J., ZHANG, P., WILLIAMS, H. E. L., WILSON, A. J. and MITCHELL, N. J., 2024. Peptide macrocyclisation via intramolecular interception of visible-light-mediated desulfurisation CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 15, 9612-9619
• GRIFFITHS, R. C., SMITH, F. R., LONG, J. E., SCOTT, D., WILLIAMS, H. E. L., OLDHAM, N. J., LAYFIELD, R. and MITCHELL, N. J., 2022. Site-Selective Installation of N-Epsilon-Modified Sidechains into Peptide and Protein Scaffolds via Visible-Light-Mediated Desulfurative C-C Bond Formation ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION. 61, e202110223
• GRIFFITHS, R., SMITH, F. R., LONG, J. E., WILLIAMS, H., LAYFIELD, R. and MITCHELL, N. J., 2020. Site-Selective Modification of Peptides and Proteins via Interception of Free Radical-Mediated Dechalcogenation ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION. 59, 23659-23667
• GRIFFITHS, R. C., SMITH, F. R., LI, D., WYATT, J. W., ROGERS, D. M., LONG, J. E., CUSIN, L. M. L., TIGHE, P. J., LAYFIELD, R., HIRST, J. D., MULLER, M. M. and MITCHELL, N. J., 2023. Cysteine-Selective Modification of Peptides and Proteins via Desulfurative C-C Bond Formation CHEMISTRY A EUROPEAN JOURNAL. 29, e2022025

• View all publications

Current Research

The group's research activities focus on the development of new bioconjugation methodologies. Current projects include the exploration of photocatalytic, biocatalytic, and electrochemical methods for the site-selective modification of peptides and proteins.

For more details, see our group website: https://nicholasjmitchell.wixsite.com/themitchellgroup

• SWAN, C. T., EDMONDS, A. G., ARGENT, S. P. and MITCHELL, NICHOLAS J., 2025. A Modular and Scalable Route to Protected Cyclopropane Amino Acid Building Blocks ORGANIC LETTERS. 10.1021/acs.orglett.5c01341s
• ALJOHANI, S., EDMONDS, A. G., CASTELLETTO, V., SEITSONEN, J., HAMLEY, I. W., SYMONDS, P., BRENTVILLE, V. A., DURRANT, L. G and MITCHELL, N. J, 2025. In Vivo Evaluation of Pam2Cys-Modified Cancer-­Testis Antigens as Potential Self-Adjuvanting Cancer Vaccines JOURNAL OF PEPTIDE SCIENCE. 31, e70022
• SMITH, F. R., MEEHAN, D., GRIFFITHS, R. C., KNOWLES, H. J., ZHANG, P., WILLIAMS, H. E. L., WILSON, A. J. and MITCHELL, N. J., 2024. Peptide macrocyclisation via intramolecular interception of visible-light-mediated desulfurisation CHEMICAL SCIENCE. 15, 9612-9619
• GRIFFITHS, R. C., SMITH, F. R., LI, D., WYATT, J. W., ROGERS, D. M., LONG, J. E., CUSIN, L. M. L., TIGHE, P. J., LAYFIELD, R., HIRST, J. D., MULLER, M. M. and MITCHELL, N. J., 2023. Cysteine-Selective Modification of Peptides and Proteins via Desulfurative C-C Bond Formation CHEMISTRY A EUROPEAN JOURNAL. 29, e2022025
• AMIN, S. S., JONES, K. D., KIBLER, A. J., DAMIAN, H. A., CAMERON, J. M., BUTLER, K. S., ARGENT, S. P., WINSLOW, M., ROBINSON, D., MITCHELL, N. J., LAM, H. W. and NEWTON, G. N., 2023. Diphosphoryl‐functionalized Polyoxometalates: Structurally and Electronically Tunable Hybrid Molecular Materials ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION. 62, e202302446
• BOMBANA, A., SHANMUGAM, M., COLLISON, D., KIBLER, A. J., NEWTON, G. N., JÄGER, C. M., CROFT, A. K., MORRA, S. and MITCHELL, N. J., 2023. Application of a Synthetic Ferredoxin-Inspired [4Fe4S]-Peptide Maquette as the Redox Partner for an [FeFe]-Hydrogenase CHEMBIOCHEM. e202300250
• LEE, J. C., CUTHBERTSON, J. D. and MITCHELL, N. J., 2023. Chemoselective Late-Stage Functionalization of Peptides via Photocatalytic C2-Alkylation of Tryptophan ORGANIC LETTERS. 25, 5459-5464
• GRIFFITHS, R. C., SMITH, F. R., LONG, J. E., SCOTT, D., WILLIAMS, H. E. L., OLDHAM, N. J., LAYFIELD, R. and MITCHELL, N. J., 2022. Site-Selective Installation of N-Epsilon-Modified Sidechains into Peptide and Protein Scaffolds via Visible-Light-Mediated Desulfurative C-C Bond Formation ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION. 61, e202110223
• GRIFFITHS, R. C. and MITCHELL, N. J., 2021. The Chemical Synthesis of Site-Specifically Modified Proteins via Diselenide-Selenoester Ligation. In: PEPTIDE CONJUGATION: METHODS AND PROTOCOLS 2355. Springer Protocols. 231-251
• KARYAL, C., PANAYIOTA, P., HUGHES, J., GRIFFITHS, R. C., PERSAUD, R. R., TIGHE, P. J., MITCHELL, N. J. and GRIFFIN, R., 2021. Mimicking Native Display of CD0873 on Liposomes Augments Its Potency as an Oral Vaccine against Clostridioides difficile VACCINES. 9, 1453
• GRIFFITHS, R., SMITH, F. R., LONG, J. E., WILLIAMS, H., LAYFIELD, R. and MITCHELL, N. J., 2020. Site-Selective Modification of Peptides and Proteins via Interception of Free Radical-Mediated Dechalcogenation ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION. 59, 23659-23667
• SAYERS, J., KARPATI, P. M. T., MITCHELL, N. J., GOLDYS, A. M., KWONG, S. M., FIRTH, N., CHAN, B. and PAYNE, R. J., 2018. Construction of Challenging Proline-Proline Junctions via Diselenide-Selenoester Ligation Chemistry JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 140, 13327-13334
• BOFINGER, R., ZAW-THIN, M., MITCHELL, N. J., PATRICK, P. S., STOWE, C., GOMEZ-RAMIREZ, A., HAILES, H. C., KALBER, T. L. and TABOR, A. B., 2018. Development of lipopolyplexes for gene delivery: Acomparison of the effects of differing modes of targetingpeptide display on the structure and transfection activities oflipopolyplexes JOURNAL OF PEPTIDE SCIENCE. 24, e3131
• MITCHELL, N. J., KULKARNI, S. S., MALINS, L. R., WANG, S. and PAYNE, R. J., 2017. One-pot ligation-oxidative deselenization at selenocystine and selenocysteine CHEMISTRY A EUROPEAN JOURNAL. 23, 946-952
• WEITSMAN, G., MITCHELL, N. J., EVANS, R., CHEUNG, A., KALBER, T. L., BOFINGER, R., FRUHWIRTH, G. O., KEPPLER, M., WRIGHT, Z. V. F., BARBER, P. R., GORDON, P., KONING, T. D., WULANINGSIH, W., SANDER, K., VOJNOVIC, B., AMEER-BEG, S., LYTHGOE, M., ARNOLD, J. N., ÅRSTAD, E., FESTY, F., HAILES, H. C., TABOR, A. B. and NG, T., 2017. Detecting intratumoral heterogeneity of EGFR activity by liposome-based in vivo transfection of a fluorescent biosensor ONCOGENE. 36, 3618-3628
• MITCHELL, N. J., SAYERS, J., CLAYTON, D., KULKARNI, S. S., GOLDYS, A. M., RIPOLL-ROZADA, J., PEREIRA, P. J. B., CHAN, B., RADOM, L. and PAYNE, R. J., 2017. Accelerated Protein Synthesis via One-Pot Ligation-Deselenization Chemistry CHEM. 2, 703-715
• ROGERS, S., FEY, D., MCCLOY, R. A., PARKER, B. L., MITCHELL, N. J., PAYNE, R. J., DALY, R. J., JAMES, D. E., CALDON, C. E., WATKINS, D. N., CROUCHER, D. R. and BURGESS, A., 2016. PP1 initiates the dephosphorylation of MASTL, triggering mitotic exit and bistability in human cells JOURNAL OF CELL SCIENCE. 129(7), 1340-1354
• ISAHAK, N., GODY, G., MALINS, L. R., MITCHELL, N. J., PAYNE, R. J. and PERRIER, S., 2016. Single addition of an allylamine monomer enables access to end-functionalized RAFT polymers for native chemical ligation CHEMICAL COMMUNICATIONS. 52, 12952-12955
• MALINS, L. R., MITCHELL, N. J., MCGOWAN, S. and PAYNE, R. J., 2015. Oxidative Deselenization of Selenocysteine: Applications for Programmed Ligation at Serine ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION. 54(43), 12716-12721
• MITCHELL, N. J., MALINS, L. R., LIU, X., THOMPSON, R. E., CHAN, B., RADOM, L. and PAYNE, R. J., 2015. Rapid Additive-Free Selenocystine-Selenoester Peptide Ligation JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 137(44), 14011-14014
• MALINS, L. R., MITCHELL, N. J. and PAYNE, R. J., 2014. Peptide ligation chemistry at selenol amino acids JOURNAL OF PEPTIDE SCIENCE. 20(2), 64-77
• MITCHELL, N., KALBER, T. L., COOPER, M. S., SUNASSEE, K., CHALKER, S. L., SHAW, K. P., ORDIDGE, K. L., BADAR, A., JANES, S. M., BLOWER, P. J., LYTHGOE, M. F., HAILES, H. C. and TABOR, A. B., 2013. Incorporation of paramagnetic, fluorescent and PET/SPECT contrast agents into liposomes for multimodal imaging BIOMATERIALS. 34(4), 1179-1192
• BUCHSBAUM, S. F., MITCHELL, N., MARTIN, H., WIGGIN, M., MARZIALI, A., COVENEY, P. V., SIWY, Z. and HOWORKA, S., 2013. Disentangling Steric and Electrostatic Factors in Nanoscale Transport Through Confined Space NANO LETTERS. 13, 3890-3896
• LEITNER, M., MITCHELL, N., KASTNER, M., SCHLAPAK, R., GRUBER, H. J., HINTERDORFER, P., HOWORKA, S. and EBNER, E., 2011. Single-Molecule AFM Characterization of Individual Chemically Tagged DNA Tetrahedra ACS NANO. 5, 7048-7054
• MITCHELL, N., EBNER, A., HINTERDORFER, P., TAMPE, R. and HOWORKA, S., 2010. Chemical Tags Mediate the Orthogonal Self-Assembly of DNA Duplexes into Supramolecular Structures SMALL. 6(16), 1732-1735
• MITCHELL, N., SCHLAPAK, R., KASTNER, M., ARMITAGE, D., CHRZANOWSKI, W., RIENER, J., HINTERDORFER, P., EBNER, A. and HOWORKA, S., 2009. A DNA Nanostructure for the Functional Assembly of Chemical Groups with Tunable Stoichiometry and Defined Nanoscale Geometry ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION. 48(3), 525-527
• BORSENBERGER, V., MITCHELL, N. and HOWORKA, S., 2009. Chemically Labeled Nucleotides and Oligonucleotides Encode DNA for Sensing with Nanopores JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 131(22), 7530-7531
• MITCHELL, N. and HOWORKA, S., 2008. Chemical tags facilitate the sensing of individual DNA strands with nanopores ANGEWANDTE CHEMIE-INTERNATIONAL EDITION. 47(30), 5565-5568
• MARTIN, H., KINNS, H., MITCHELL, N., ASTIER, Y., MADATHIL, R. and HOWORKA, S., 2007. Nanoscale protein pores modified with PAMAM dendrimers JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN CHEMICAL SOCIETY. 129(31), 9640-9649