Awarded in 2008
Home Department: Chemical Engineering
Faculty Advisor: Andrew Spakowitz (Chemical Engineering)

Research Title: The physics of target-site search and DNA supercoiling in the cell

Research Description: The Spakowitz lab examines how proteins find their target sites on DNA, a process central to proper cellular function and survival. Of particular interest is the role that DNA conformation, including supercoiling and higher-order chromatin organization, plays in this search. They have developed a novel theoretical framework to address this phenomenon on linear, supercoiled, and nucleosomal DNA, and their predictions will be subsequently verified experimentally. The resulting elucidation of the mechanisms behind target site localization will provide fundamental knowledge of gene regulation processes and the nature of protein-DNA interactions.

WHERE IS HE NOW?

Mario is a senior data scientist at Deloitte Consulting.