Dr Phillip Lowe

Dr Phillip Lowe studied for an MChem degree at the University of Manchester from 2006–2010. He then continued his postgraduate research at the Manchester Institute of Biotechnology under the supervision of Prof. Jason Micklefield. His research concerned the development of RNA-based gene expression tools and led to the discovery of two new mutant riboswitch-ligand pairings, capable of dynamic control of reporter gene expression. In January 2015 he was awarded a PhD in Biological Chemistry for his thesis on 'Reengineering Riboswitches as Novel Gene Expression Tools'.

In March 2015 he began work as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the O'Hagan group at the University of St Andrews, conducting research exploring the substrate scope of the fluorinase enzyme in an effort to develop new tracers for positron emission tomography. His work is supported by the EPSRC.

Outside of the lab, Phillip has a keen interest in football and rugby. He also has a passion for the home brewing of ale and cider, enjoying particularly the experimental and craft elements, as well as the sociable aspect of the pastime.


My Publications


4’-Fluoro-nucleosides and nucleotides: From nucleocidin to an emerging class of therapeutics
Phillip T. Lowe and David O’Hagan

Chem Soc. Rev., 2023, 252, 248-276
doi.org/10.1039/D2CS00762B


Oligomerization engineering of the fluorinase enzyme leads to an active trimer that supports synthesis of fluorometabolites in vitro
Tiia Kittilä, Patricia Calero, Folmer Fredslund, Phillip T. Lowe, David Tezé, Manuel Nieto-Domínguez, David O’Hagan, Pablo I. Nikel, Ditte H. Welner

Microb Biotechnol., 2022, Online ahead of print
doi.org/10.1111/1751-7915.14009


A fluoride-responsive genetic circuit enables in vivo biofluorination in engineered Pseudomonas putida
Patricia Calero, Daniel C. Volke, Phillip T. Lowe, Charlotte H. Gotfredsen, David O’Hagan and Pablo I. Nikel

Nature Commun., 2020, 11, 5045
10.1038/s41467-020-18813-x


An engineered E. coli strain for direct in vivo fluorination
Konstantinos Markakis, Phillip T. Lowe, Liam Davison-Gates, David O’Hagan, Susan J.Rosser and Alistair Elfick

ChemBioChem., 2020, 21,1856-1860.
10.1002/cbic.202000051


A role for fluorine in flavours, fragrances and pheromones
Phillip T. Lowe and David O’Hagan
J. Fluorine Chem., 2020, 109420
10.1039/C9SC03374B


Two 3’-O- β-Glucosylated Nucleoside Fluorometabolites Related to Nucleocidin in Streptomyces calvus
Xuan Feng, Davide Bello, Phillip T. Lowe, Joshua Clark and David O'Hagan

Chem. Sci., 2019, 10, 9501 - 9505
10.1039/C9SC03374B


An enzymatic Finkelstein reaction: fluorinase catalyses direct halogen exchange.
Phillip T. Lowe, Stephen L. Cobb and David O’Hagan

Org. Biomol. Chem., 2019, 17, 7493-7496.
10.1039/C9OB01625B


Enzymatic radiosynthesis of a 18F-Glu-Ureido-Lys ligand for the prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA).
Phillip T. Lowe, Sergio Dall’Angelo, Ian N. Fleming, Monica Piras, Matteo Zanda and David O’Hagan

Org. Biomol. Chem., 2019, 17, 1480-1486.
10.1002/cbic.201700382


Enzymatic fluorination of biotin and tetrazine conjugates for pretargeting approaches to PET imaging.
Phillip T. Lowe, Sergio Dall’Angelo, Andrew Devine, Matteo Zanda and David O’Hagan

ChemBioChem., 2018, 19, 1969-1978.
10.1002/cbic.201700382


A novel class of fluorinated A2A adenosine receptor agonist with application to last step enzymatic [18F]fluorination for PET imaging.
Phillip T. Lowe, Sergio Dall’Angelo, Thea Mulder-Krieger, Adriaan P. IJzerman, Matteo Zanda and David O’Hagan

ChemBioChem., 2017, 18, 2156–2164.
10.1002/cbic.201700382