Current Projects
Genes near tRNA
Transfer RNA (tRNA) is responsible for brining amino acids to the growing peptide chain to make protein. tRNAs are have a highly conserved structure and are known to impact gene expression, bur much more research is needed to understand this interaction. The purpose of this project is to examine proximity effects of nearby genes on tRNA, and how genomic organization can impact translation.
Novel Bacteriophages in Endosymbiotic Systems
This system investigates bacterial endosymbionts - that is bacteria that reside in a fungus - to discover the presence of novel bacteriophages (phages). Phages are viruses that exclusively infect bacteria, and can enhance the pathogenicity of the bacterium. Exploring these phages could provide answers about how the host can cause disease, and hopefully could later form the basis of a way to treat these diseases.
mRNA Structural Diversity
The untranslated regions (UTRs) of mRNAs is often discarded because it doesn't directly code for proteins. However, the genetic composition of the UTRs, specifically the type and number of possible structures it can form is not negligible. The purpose of this work is to leverage machine learning models to better understand these UTR structures and its impact on thermotolerance.
Past Projects
Previous work focused on nucleic acid structure and biochemical methods with the goal being eventually biotechnology applications
Assessing the impact of buffer salt choice on DNA i-Motifs
Master's Thesis
Intercalated motifs (i-Motifs) are a 4 stranded DNA structure often found at the end of the G1 phase of the cell cycle. They exist through cytosine-cytosine base pairing and prefer an acidic pH to allow protonation of the N3 nitrogen on the cytosine base. Much is still unknown about this structure, but it is thought they can affect transcription through transcription fork stalling or collapse.
​
Current research on i-motifs have very conflicting results on the effect of monovalent cations on structural stability. For example, depending on the source, potassium either stabilizes i-motifs, destabilizes them, or has no effect. These literature discrepancies make it challenging to realize the biological implications or biotech applications of i-motifs.
​
After studying i-motif structure with circular dichroism (CD), it appears that buffer choice can drastically affect whether the same DNA sequence folds into an i-motif, duplex, or remains single stranded.
