Jonathan K Watts, PhD

Jon grew up in Halifax, Canada, and received his BSc in 2001 from Dalhousie University, winning the University Medal in Chemistry and conducting work in carbohydrate synthesis with Professor Bruce Grindley. After a year in the non-profit sector in Cote d’Ivoire, Jon returned to science and to Canada and received his PhD in 2008, working with Professor Masad Damha at McGill University. Jon’s doctoral work included the development of two new oligonucleotide analogues, an exploration of why 2'-fluorinated oligonucleotides show such high binding affinity, and studies on the chemical modification of ASOs and siRNAs. He then moved to Professor David Corey's lab at UT Southwestern for postdoctoral studies, where his work included the chemical modification of promoter-targeted duplex RNAs and the use of oligonucleotide-oligospermine conjugates as antisense and antigene oligonucleotides. In 2012, Jon started his independent group at the University of Southampton, UK, where he received the 2013 Young Investigator Award from the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society and the 2015 Vice Chancellor’s Award for teaching. In the summer of 2015, Jon was recruited to the RNA Therapeutics Institute at UMass Chan Medical School.  He was made Professor in 2022. Work in the Watts lab is mainly centered on the optimization of oligonucleotide therapeutics for use in the brain and lung, and on increasing the efficacy and versatility of genome editing for therapeutic use.  We work on both platform technology and disease applications, and we have contributed to the development of multiple oligonucleotide drugs that have reached ALS patients through investigator-initiated trials.  We have published over 75 papers that have been cited over 5000 times. Jon also co-edited the textbook Nucleic Acids in Chemistry and Biology, 4th Edition (Blackburn, Egli, Gait and Watts, 2022).

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