General ILL seminar
organised by College 9
Thursday, October 16, 2025 at 14h00
Seminar room 110-111, ILL 50, 1st floor
Zoom link: https://ill.zoom.us/j/94387825967?pwd=MGws9WbxH63SWeKKUeNmieWgQh9o2Q.1
Passcode: seminarC9
"Deep eutectic solvents as a tailorable platform for the next generation of nucleic acid formulations"
Adrian Sanchez-Fernandez
Centro Singular de Investigación en Química Biolóxica e Materiais Moleculares,
Universidade de Santiago de Compostela
adriansanchez.fernandez@usc.es
The emergence of deep eutectic solvents (DESs) has revolutionised science and technology by offering tailorable environments for biomolecules. DESs are water-free solvents formed by combining simple organic compounds (e.g., choline chloride and urea in a 1:2 molar ratio), where an intricate network of supramolecular interactions allows the mixture to remain liquid at room temperature [1]. Recently, DESs have emerged as task-specific "cocktails" for stabilisation of proteins and nucleic acids [2, 3]. Yet, a deeper understanding of biomolecule response within these tailorable systems is essential to unlocking their full potential.
In this seminar I will present our most recent studies of nucleic acid behaviour in DESs. Our results demonstrate that DES can provide the required environment for the folding and stabilisation of nucleic acids. Notably, these can be co-assembled with specific
lipid phases to develop functional formulations. Overall, DESs offer an exciting platform for biomolecular solubilisation in anhydrous liquid environments, as their “design” character can open myriad possibilities in formulation technology, drug delivery, and biomaterial development.
[1] Hansen et al., Chem Rev 2021, 121 (3). [2] Sanchez-Fernandez et al., J. Am.
Chem. Soc. 2022, 144 (51), 23657-23667. [3] Jesus et al., Curr. Opin. Green Sustain.
Chem. 2022, 100731,
Dr. Sanchez-Fernandez completed his PhD in Chemistry at the University of Bath (United Kingdom) and moved to Lund University (Sweden) as a postdoctoral researcher. After receiving a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship, he moved to the University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). Currently, Adrian holds a Ramón y Cajal fellowship and leads the research group descaffold. Now, his research activities focus on the manipulation of molecular interactions to control the behavior of biomolecules and assembled systems in deep eutectic solvents.
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Orsolya Czakkel (College 9 Secretary)