Thomas Carell

Prof. Dr. Thomas Carell is a faculty member at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich within the Faculty of Chemistry and Pharmacy. His research focuses on the Chemical Biology of Nucleic Acids, spanning epigenetic modifications, DNA repair, RNA chemistry, prebiotic chemistry, and nucleic acid technology.

• Discovered novel DNA bases (5-hydroxymethyl-, 5-formyl-, and 5-carboxycytidine) in stem cells and neurons.
• Developed phosphoramidites for modified DNA/RNA synthesis, commercialized via Baseclick GmbH.
• Investigated deformylation and decarboxylation mechanisms in active DNA demethylation.
• Explored DNA repair processes through crystal structures of lesion-enzyme complexes.

His work includes RNA modifications for cancer diagnostics, click chemistry applications in DNA nanotechnology, and prebiotic pathways for nucleoside formation. Publications appear in journals like Nature, Science, and Angewandte Chemie.