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P. CLINT
SPIEGEL
Assistant Professor
Biochemistry
Education
B.S. Oregon State University, 1999.
Ph.D. University of Washington, 2004.
Jane Coffin Childs Postdoctoral Fellow, University of
California, Santa Cruz, 2004-2007.
Research Interests
My research group is interested in
understanding the structural and functional properties of RNA. Recent
discoveries have shown that RNA can adopt complex tertiary structure and perform
various catalytic activities, similar to proteins. Current research efforts in
my group involve studying ribosome structure and function. The ribosome is the
primordial macromolecular machine, consisting of both RNA and protein, which
performs protein synthesis and is essential to all forms of life. During protein
synthesis, translation factors bind to the ribosomal subunit interface to aid in
ribosomal initiation, elongation, termination, and recycling. We use
solution-based structural techniques, such as “chemical footprinting”, to
understand (1) how transfer RNAs (tRNAs) move through the ribosome during each
step of translation and (2) how translation factors interact with the ribosomal
RNA (rRNA) of the 70S ribosome. Additionally, we are interested in using the
structural and evolutionary capabilities of RNA to develop new biotechnological
applications.
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