Research
Research in our group focuses on characterizing the structure, dynamics, and function of ribonucleic acids (RNAs) involved in fundamental cellular processes such as catalysis and regulation of gene expression by implementation of classical and novel NMR methodologies. We also venture into other biophysical tool such as SAXS, X-ray crystallography, as well as computational methods, NMR pulse-sequence development and chemical biology technologies to aid in our quest for answers to interesting biological questions.
Pulse-sequence development: In the past, development of new labeling technologies changed the field of protein NMR; we anticipate that novel site specific labeling technologies being developed by our group as described above will also change the landscape of RNA NMR by providing opportunities to develop new NMR experiments that make use of these new labels, especially for large RNA molecules. These will include experiments for resonance assignments, for extraction of parameters for modeling the 3D structures of RNAs, for monitoring the interactions of RNAs with ligands such as drugs or other RNAs, as well as for more accurate measurements of relaxation parameters.