Current scientific interests focus on research in the photochemistry and photophysics of biologically relevant heterocyclic molecules, conducted using tools of theoretical chemistry in collaboration with experimental groups. These studies particularly consider the active participation of the chemical environment (solvent molecules, substituents or other nearby molecules) of the chromophore in photochemical phenomena.

Jianfeng Xu, Mikołaj Janicki, Rafał K. Szabla, John D. Sutherland, Prebiotic synthesis of dihydrouridine by photoreduction of uridine in formamide.
Chemical Communications. 2024, vol. 60, nr 55, s. 1-4. https://doi.org/10.1039/D4CC01823K

Jianfeng Xu, Václav Chmela, Nicholas Green, David Russel, Mikołaj Janicki, Robert Góra, Rafał Szabla, Andrew Bond, John Sutherland, Selective
prebiotic formation of RNA pyrimidine and DNA purine nucleosides. Nature. 2020, vol. 582, s. 60-66. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2330-9

Mikołaj Janicki, Corinna Kufner, Zoe Todd, Seohyun Kim, Derek O’Flaherty, Jack Szostak, Jiří Šponer, Robert Góra, Dimitar Sasselov, Rafał
Szabla, Ribose alters the photochemical properties of the nucleobase in thionated nucleosides. Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters. 2021, vol.
12, nr 28, s. 6707-6713. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.1c01384

Mikołaj Janicki, Samuel Roberts, Jiří Šponer, Matthew Powner, Robert Góra, Rafał Szabla, Photostability of oxazoline RNA-precursors in UV-rich prebiotic
environments. Chemical Communications. 2018, vol. 54, nr 95, s. 13407-13410. https://doi.org/10.1039/C8CC07343K