Professional Snapshot
Postdoctoral Advisees
Maia Azubel, Hans Elmlund, Karl-Magnus Larsson, Xin Liu, Kenji Murakami, Shigeki Nagai, Erez Podoly, Philip Robinson, Dong Wang
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Industry Relationships
Stanford is committed to ethical and transparent interactions with our industry partners. It is our policy to disclose payments of $5,000 or more, equity valued at $5,000 or more in a publicly traded company, or any equity in a privately held company, to physicians and scientists employed by Stanford University from companies or other commercial entities with which they interact as part of their professional activities. View Full Information
| Consulting: | Teva, Cocrystal Discovery, Pacific Biosciences, Protalix, Bioactivity |
| Equity: | Teva, Cocrystal Discovery, Pacific Biosciences, Protalix, Bioactivity |
| Service on Board of Directors: | Teva, Cocrystal Discovery, Pacific Biosciences, Protalix, Bioactivity |
Scientific Focus
Research Interests
Our goal is to elucidate the fundamental basis of gene regulation. We study the control of transcription, the first step in the pathway of gene expression. Current work focuses on discovery of the molecular machines involved in transcription, reconstitution of the process with purified components, structure determination of the transcription machinery, and structure-function relationships in chromatin, the natural DNA template for transcription.
Highlights of work from the past three years include:
1. Discovery of a human homolog of the 20-protein yeast Mediator complex. Mediator is the central processing unit of gene regulation, receiving both positive and negative inputs and transducing the information to the transcription machinery.
2. Structure determination of 10-subunit, half million Dalton RNA polymerase II, in the act of transcription, with template DNA and protduct RNA, by X-ray crystallography at atomic resolution.
3. Structure determination of the entire transcription initiation complex by two-dimensional protein crystallography.
4. Discovery of a stably altered nucleosome produced by a purified chromatin-remodeling complex.
Current work is directed towards the structure of the entire transcription apparatus at atomic resolution and the mechanism of transcription control in living cells.
Publications
- A bridge to transcription by RNA polymerase. J Biol. 2008; (10): 39
- The RNA polymerase II trigger loop functions in substrate selection and is directly targeted by alpha-amanitin. Mol Cell. 2008; (5): 547-56
- The molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription (Nobel Lecture). Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2007; (37): 6956-65
- Chromatin rules. Nat Struct Mol Biol. 2007; (11): 986-8
- Structure of a thiol monolayer-protected gold nanoparticle at 1.1 A resolution. Science. 2007; (5849): 430-3
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