Awarded in 2023
Home Department: Biophysics, Medicine
Faculty Advisors: Lacramioara Bintu (Bioengineering), Daniel Herschlag (Biochemistry), and William Greenleaf (Genetics)

Research Title: High-Throughput Measurements of RNA-Mediated Regulation of Gene Expression

Research Description: RNA plays an integral role in tuning gene expression and is regulated by thousands of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs). Past studies have identified RNA-binding domains within these proteins and constructed maps of their RNA binding profiles, but little has been done to systematically describe other domains within RBPs that regulate RNA fate and the mechanisms by which they do so. Abby proposes to build and use a high-throughput assay to identify functional 'effector' domains within RBPs, determine their molecular and cellular mechanisms of action, and connect mutations within them to disease phenotypes. This work will create a rich resource for understanding RBP function in human cells and provide tools for synthetic gene control at the RNA level.