Category: All Research

Mar 15th, 2018

Spotlight on Research – Cooper Lab

The Cooper Lab is interested in how the actin filaments in cells assemble and how that assembly controls cell shape and movement. One focus is an actin-binding protein called “capping protein,” which caps one end of the actin filament. Capping protein is in turn regulated by intrinsically disordered regions of the CARMIL family of proteins, which exhibit positive linkage in their binding interactions.

All Research / Galburt Lab

Mar 15th, 2018

Spotlight on Research – Galburt Lab

The Galburt Lab strives to understand the physical mechanisms of transcription initiation and other important DNA-protein interactions. More specifically, we use a variety of single-molecule and ensemble biophysical techniques including both optical and magnetic tweezers and fluorescent microscopy to investigate how the assembly of initiation complexes on gene promoters leads to DNA unwinding and transcription. Our work is currently focused on the mechanisms of basal transcription initiation in Eukaryotes and on factor-regulated transcription in Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

All Research / Burgers Lab

Mar 14th, 2018

Spotlight on Research – Burgers Lab

The Burgers Lab studies DNA replication and DNA damage response in eukaryotic cells. Using yeast as a model organism, the lab integrates the biochemical analysis of DNA-protein interactions in purified model systems with the genetic analysis of targeted yeast mutants. Specific areas of interest are lagging strand DNA replication and Okazaki fragment maturation, damage induced mutagenesis, and DNA damage cell cycle checkpoints.

DNA replication fork and Okazaki fragment maturation

All Research / Lohman Lab

Mar 14th, 2018

Spotlight on Research – Lohman Lab

Research in the Lohman Lab focuses on obtaining a molecular understanding of the mechanisms of protein-nucleic acid interactions involved in DNA metabolism, in particular, DNA motor proteins (helicases/translocases) and single stranded DNA binding proteins. Thermodynamic, kinetic, structural and single molecule approaches are used to probe these interactions at the molecular level.