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Our Science
Welcome to the Aye Lab! Our business is understanding cellular communication processes. We are most well-known for our studies into signaling functions of innate electrophiles (reactive metabolites and related drugs), but we also study nucleotide signaling pathways. Our work is slowly bringing both eclectic forms of cellular communication into focus. Critically, we have proven that electrophile signaling impinges on all aspects of cellular processes, and we have uncovered hidden aspects of nucleotide signaling pathways that serve to guard the genome. We pioneered the use of photocaged electrophiles (REX technologies) to bypass many of the limitations associated with the use of reactive electrophiles in cells/whole organisms. These technologies that can trigger protein-specific electrophile-mediated signaling or can profile the best electrophile sensors are proving to be uniquely useful. We have also used biochemistry/cell biology/genetics to uncover novel roles of one of the most ancient enzymes, ribonucleotide reductase. Unsurprisingly, we are a multidisciplinary lab that uses chemistry, biochemistry, cell biology, genetics and a number of model organisms to solve complex problems. Our work is of significant relevance to human health. Through our united team effort, we strive to develop novel interventions, and to better understand current drugs through active collaborations with industrial scientists.
Reactive Metabolite Signaling, Genome Regulation, & Model Organism Engineering Biology
Our research arena
Our research arena
Organic Chemistry
Chemical Biology
Bioengineering
Biotechnology
Biochemistry and Enzymology
Molecular and Cell Biology
Applied Genetics
Biophysics
Beyond in vitro and cell-based mechanistic studies, we use more complex and biologically relevant systems, namely, C. elegans, zebrafish, and mice as our in vivo mechanistic models.
News & Announcements
News & Announcements
2025 June
We are honored to receive an ERC Advanced Grant
We are most grateful for the prestigious support from the European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant funding program.
We thank all of the contributions made by numerous former and present members of the Aye lab established in July 2012.
Highlights in:
ERC backs cutting-edge research with €721 million in funding
2025 June
We are officially a LEAF efficiency & sustainability certified lab!
Just within a few weeks of our new labs installation, we are excited to have successfully passed the Lab Efficiency Assessment Framework (LEAF) at the first level in the series (Bronze). This achievement is made possible by the excellent input from all team members in an effort led by Kevin, and further faciliated by long-standing team-shared efforts shaped by our core values & collective responsibility. We also thank the coordination from colleagues and facility team members. Striving for Silver the next year...
2024 December
Oil on canvas, by OS-Localis-REX
The worm becomes the fabric for a tissue specific, physico-political map depicting protein reactivity to lipid-derived electrophiles. OS-Localis-REX, a method to inform on spatiotemporal reactivity of local proteomes, is now accepted in Cell. We thank all past and present team-member contributors and funding agencies that collectively made this work possible.
“Organ-specific electrophile responsivity mapping in live C. elegans”
Liu et al., Long and Aye 2024 Cell
Highlight in Oxford Chem News and Pembroke College News
2024 October
2024 Klaus Grohe Prize in Drug Discovery
We are deeply honored to be recognized by the 2024 Klaus Grohe Prize for our laboratory's continued efforts and contributions toward precision reactive small-molecule signaling investigations and how these innate regulatory mechanisms directly inform on precision therapeutic design & discovery.
We thank the Klaus Grohe Foundation based at the German Chemical Society.
2024 October
The lab honored by an Academy of Medical Sciences Professorship award
We are grateful for the support from the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Department for Science, Innovation, & Technology UK.
2024 October
The lab received a Wolfson Fellowship from The Royal Society
We thank the Royal Society for the recognition and support of our team science.
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