Mikko Ora
Senior Lecturer
mikora@utu.fi +358 29 450 3196 +358 50 328 5911 Office: K219 ORCID identifier: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5125-6127 |
Organic Chemistry; Kinetics; Nucleotides; Prodrugs
M.Sc. 1994; Ph.D. 1999 (Bioorganic chemistry); Adjunct Professor 2006 (Physical organic chemistry)
Senior Lecturer since 2006
Structurally modified nucleotides have received attention as a means to combat against viral infections, cancer and hereditary diseases. The research is focused on pro-drug models of nucleotides. The goal is to develop the degradable lipophilic carriers which are used to improve the cellular membrane penetration of the negatively charged nucleotides. To obtain mechanistic information on the chemical hydrolysis and enzymatic cleavage of the protecting groups, the kinetic studies of the pro-drugs are of interest.
The small RAS oncoproteins play a crucial role in human cancers and are, hence, a target in anticancer drug discovery. In spite of numerous efforts, a direct small-molecule signalling inhibitor drug of mutant RAS has not been able to develop. The aim of the study is to provide a potent method to suppress oncogenic RAS signalling with phosphotriester derivatives.
KEMI6110 Organic Chemistry
KEMI6124 B.Sc.Laboratory Project, Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology
- Toward a sustainable protection group approach for solid-phase oligonucleotide synthesis employing 5′-O-(2-methoxyisopropyl) protection (2026)
- Organic and Biomolecular Chemistry
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Selective Acetalization in Pyridine: A Sustainable 5′-O-(2-Methoxypropyl) Protecting Group in the Synthesis of Nucleic Acid Analogs (2025)
- Organic Letters
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Tuning the Solubility of Soluble Support Constructs in Liquid Phase Oligonucleotide Synthesis (2024)
- Journal of Organic Chemistry
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - 5'-O-(2-Isopropoxyprop-2-yl)-protected Phosphoramidite Building Blocks in the Liquid Phase Oligonucleotide Synthesis (2023)
- European Journal of Organic Chemistry
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Modulating leishmanial pteridine metabolism machinery via some new coumarin-1,2,3-triazoles: Design, synthesis and computational studies (2023)
- European Journal of Medicinal Chemistry
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Organomercury oligonucleotide conjugates as artificial ribonucleases (2023)
- Journal of Inorganic Biochemistry
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Stereo-Controlled Liquid Phase Synthesis of Phosphorothioate Oligonucleotides on a Soluble Support (2023)
- Journal of Organic Chemistry
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Cleavage of an RNA Model Compound by an Arylmercury Complex (2021)
- ChemBioChem
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Stability of the Phosphotriester PDE6D Inhibitors (2021)
- ChemistrySelect
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal) - Mercury(II)-catalyzed cleavage, isomerization and depurination of RNA and DNA model compounds and desulfurization of their phosphoromonothioate analogs (2020)
- Catalysts
(A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal)



