Heartfelt congratulations to our Professorial Fellow and distinguished neuroscientist, Professor Matthew Wood, on his appointment to the Academy of Medical Sciences this month.
Professor Wood was elected to the Academy on May 13th 2020 with forty-nine other new Fellows, including five other academics from the University of Oxford. As a Fellow of the Academy, Professor Wood will lend his expertise alongside the country’s best medical scientists in seeking to promote best practice in medical science as well as tackling complex health issues that extend beyond the traditional boundaries of medicine.
Professor Wood’s election recognises his ground-breaking research in the field of RNA-based precision medicines for rare, inherited neurological diseases. For those with medical training, it is of note that Professor Wood has been focusing on oligonucleotide therapeutics and development of peptide-based oligonucleotide compounds for modification of mRNA splicing in Duchenne muscular dystrophy and related disorders, as well as developing extracellular vesicle-based nanotechnologies for delivery of RNA medicines to the brain and other tissues.
To non-specialist readers, the bottom line is that Professor Wood’s work is pushing back the boundaries of genomic medicines to impact currently untreatable neurological disorders.
Professor Sir Robert Lechler PMedSci, President of the Academy of Medical Sciences, said, ‘I am delighted to welcome these 50 new Fellows into the Academy’s Fellowship. Each one has made their own outstanding contribution to biomedical science, and together they are advancing the health of our society in the UK and internationally. Never has there been a more important time to recognise and celebrate the people behind ground-breaking biomedical and health research, working harder than ever to further knowledge and protect patients and the public.
For more information about the Academy of Medical Sciences and this year’s elected Fellows, please see the Academy of Medical Sciences website.
