The Russell lab studies structured nucleic acids (RNAs and DNAs) and enzymes that interact with and manipulate these structures. Current research topics are:
RNA folding
- How do structural elements interact to form complex, higher-order RNA structures?
- Can folding kinetics and stability be controlled by RNA structural modules?
- How do structured RNAs overcome electrostatic repulsion during folding?
RNA helicases
- How do helicase proteins function to chaperone folding of RNAs?
- Do unknown partner proteins contribute to chaperone activity?
CRISPR-Cas enzymes
- How do CRISPR-Cas endonucleases target a specific DNA sequence by unwinding DNA to allow base pairing with a guide RNA?
- How is high specificity achieved in DNA targeting?
- How do RNA structure and sequence control assembly and processing by Cas12a?