The rockefeller university

Event Details

Type

Friday Lecture Series

Speaker(s)

Ronald Breaker, Ph.D., Henry Ford II Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, Yale University; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Speaker bio(s)

Genomic analyses have revealed a striking number of novel classes of riboswitches and ribozymes. These highly-structured noncoding RNAs catalyze key RNA processing reactions or regulate gene expression in response to chemical signals in many species of bacteria and eukarya. In this presentation, Dr. Breaker will summarize some of the most recent riboswitch and ribozyme discoveries, and highlight the prospects for future discoveries.

 

Dr. Breaker did his Ph.D. thesis research with Peter Gilham at Purdue University, focusing on the synthesis of RNA and the catalytic properties of nucleic acids. His postdoc was with Gerald Joyce at The Scripps Research Institute, where he pioneered a variety of “test-tube evolution” strategies to isolate novel RNA enzymes and was the first to create catalytic DNAs or “deoxyribozymes” using this technology.

 

Since establishing his laboratory at Yale in 1995, Dr. Breaker has continued to conduct research on the advanced functions of nucleic acids, including ribozyme reaction mechanisms, molecular switch technology, next-generation biosensors, and catalytic DNA engineering. His laboratory has established the first proofs that metabolites are directly bound by messenger RNA elements called riboswitches, has discovered more than 30 distinct classes of these RNA gene control elements, and has published the first studies validating riboswitches as targets for antibiotics.

 

Dr. Breaker has received the Arthur Greer Memorial Prize, the Eli Lilly Award in Microbiology, the Molecular Biology Award from the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the Rolf Sammet Professorship Award. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

Open to

Public

Reception

Refreshments, 3:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., Abby Lounge

Contact

Linda Hanssler(opens in new window)

Phone

(212) 327-7714(opens in new window)

Sponsor

Linda Hanssler
(212) 327-7714(opens in new window)
lhanssler@rockefeller.edu(opens in new window)

Readings

http://librarynews.rockefeller.edu/?p=3827(opens in new window)