Martin Power

Postdoc in the Arnold group at Caltech working on chemoenzymatic synthesis. Former member of @ProfDaveLeigh group. 🇮🇪

[Jarrid Rector-Brooks @jarridrb]

What if AI could invent enzymes that nature hasn’t seen? 👩‍🔬🧑‍🔬

Introducing 🪩 DISCO: Diffusion for Sequence-structure CO-design

14 rounds of directed evolution and over a year of wet lab work. That's what it took to engineer an enzyme for selective C(sp³)–H insertion, one of the most challenging transformations in organic chemistry.

DISCO surpasses this with a single plate. No pre-specified catalytic residues, no template, no theozyme, no inverse folding, just joint diffusion over protein sequence and structure.

📝 Blog: https://t.co/j9Za0JigfO
📄 Paper: https://t.co/ficrYNBBrM
💻 Code: https://t.co/p81sSwoaPH

[Yi Tang @yitang_ucla]

A decade-long passion project led by John Billingsley and made possible by uninterrupted collaboration with the great team at @GargLab. Propellane alkaloid discovery, biosynthesis and total synthesis. @UclaCBE @uclachem @eXoZymes

https://t.co/ULuJNgMYbd

[Martin Power @MartinJ_Power]

@FieldenStephen @UoBChemistry @ERC_Research Congrats Steve! Glad to see this

[Axel Troncossi @AxelTroncossi]

🚨 New paper in Angewandte Chemie Novit! 🚨
Metal-free active template synthesis of catenanes — no strong binding or added templates needed!🧪
Huge thanks to Jiankang, Patrick, @enzoolivieri4, and Prof. @ProfDaveLeigh for the supervision!
👉 https://t.co/21qzFE3UKN

[Enzyme Chemistry @EnzymeChemistry]

#Enzymatic Stereodivergent Synthesis of Azaspiro[2.y]alkanes by Jennifer L. Kennemur, Yueming Long, Catherine J. Ko, Anuvab Das, and @francesarnold at @CaltechCCE in @J_A_C_S https://t.co/exw8bND4qJ

[Dave Leigh @ProfDaveLeigh]

Fully funded PhD opportunity in the design, synthesis and characterisation of artificial molecular machines - 2 years at the University of Manchester; 1-2 years at Peking University. Open only to non-Chinese nationals. If interested, please email me asap. https://t.co/jzXqwxu4Me

[Giuseppone Chemistry Research Group @GiusepponeLab]

15 PhD positions open
Motorized nanomachines: fundamentals, innovations, applications
https://t.co/CDbgzrwBsA
Academic labs (Feringa, Lehn, Diez, Simmel, Credi, Duwez, Giuseppone) and companies (Soprema, Syensqo)
Details for applications available soon through EURAXESS website

[enzo olivieri @enzoolivieri4]

PhD positions (SNSF) available at the University of Basel (Switzerland🇨🇭)! Join a new research group working on innovative catalytic pathways to produce endergonic/endothermic molecules🔥.
For more details: https://t.co/4JALiJcMMY & [email protected]

[J. Am. Chem. Soc. @J_A_C_S]

A Catalysis-Driven Dual Molecular Motor | Journal of the American Chemical Society @OfficialUoM https://t.co/DNy7jZtxu4

[Martin Power @MartinJ_Power]

@Toufic_Mrad @ProfDaveLeigh @ACSPublications @HuakuiLiu @AxelTroncossi @StefanBorsley @benjamino_acid @AlexBetts95 Congrats Toufic! Nice to see this out

[T⌬ufic W. Mrad @Toufic_Mrad]

Check out how we made a minuscule motor rotate 24 times in one direction on its own! Huge thanks to all involved, especially @ProfDaveLeigh for making this work possible @ACSPublications @HuakuiLiu @AxelTroncossi @StefanBorsley @benjamino_acid @AlexBetts95 https://t.co/4cr3fbsXU5

[Martin Power @MartinJ_Power]

@Ella_Maru Thank you Ella, reversing the fuel chirality doesn’t 100% restore the original state as not all of the polymer chains will unravel at the same time. However, the gel does re-expand and reaches 80% of its original volume before contracting again.

[Martin Power @MartinJ_Power]

Out now in Nature (https://t.co/OeF5SGyEAH)! Very happy to have been a part of this journey. We have integrated a catalysis-driven molecular motor into a polymer gel network to better understand the molecular-level transduction of chemical energy to mechanical force. (1/5)

[Dave Leigh @ProfDaveLeigh]

https://t.co/YWomGAutpU

[Martin Power @MartinJ_Power]

A big thank you to our excellent first author Peng-Lai, @StefanBorsley, @ProfDaveLeigh, and our collaborators Alessandro and @GiusepponeLab in Strasbourg for making this happen. (5/5)

[Martin Power @MartinJ_Power]

The direction of motor rotation and therefore polymer entanglement can be changed by switching the chirality of the chemical fuel, enabling a powered expansion and re-contraction of the gel. (4/5)

[Martin Power @MartinJ_Power]

Very happy to be starting my postdoc at the Arnold group at Caltech. Time for a new biocatalysis-themed adventure.

[Dave Leigh @ProfDaveLeigh]

Budding molecular magicians are invited to apply for a 4-year PhD studentship on catalysis-driven molecular machinery (e.g. https://t.co/qWudTDBfUo; https://t.co/Ndx2Xj9UBO; etc) available in my group, autumn 2025 start: https://t.co/azgS1NNh9z. Position open until filled😃