Daniel Herschlag

Honors and Awards

• Fellow, AAAS (2005)
• Merit Award, NIH (2002)
• Cope Scholar Award, ACS (2000)
• Established Investigator, AHA (1998-2002)
• Pfizer Award for Enzyme Chemistry, ACS (1997)

Postdoctoral Advisees

Jonathan Lassila , Rishi Porecha , Eliza Ruben , Jason Schwans , Xue Song Shi , Sergey Solomatin , Robert Spitale

Web Site Links

• Herschlag Group Home Page

Research Interests

Our research is aimed at understanding the chemical and physical behavior underlying biological macromolecules and systems, as these behaviors define the capabilities and limitations of biology. Toward this end we study folding and catalysis by RNA, as well as catalysis by protein enzymes. Comparing and contrasting the behavior of RNA and protein systems highlights the unique features of these biological macromolecules and helps elucidate principles of folding and catalysis that may be fundamental to both class of functional macromolecules. Toward these ends, many biochemical and biophysical techniques are employed, both within the lab and through multiple collaborations. Finally, we are also involved in collaborative work with Pat Brown's lab aimed at unraveling the global logic and organization of RNA processing and organization. More detailed descriptions are available from our lab home page.

Publications

• Diverse RNA-binding proteins interact with functionally related sets of RNAs, suggesting an extensive regulatory system. Hogan DJ, Riordan DP, Gerber AP, Herschlag D, Brown PO. PLoS Biol. 2008; 6 (10): e255
• Comparative enzymology in the alkaline phosphatase superfamily to determine the catalytic role of an active-site metal ion. Zalatan JG, Fenn TD, Herschlag D. J Mol Biol. 2008; 384 (5): 1174-89
• Semiautomated and rapid quantification of nucleic acid footprinting and structure mapping experiments. Laederach A, Das R, Vicens Q, Pearlman SM, Brenowitz M, Herschlag D, Altman RB. Nat Protoc. 2008; 3 (9): 1395-401
• Arginine coordination in enzymatic phosphoryl transfer: evaluation of the effect of Arg166 mutations in Escherichia coli alkaline phosphatase. O'Brien PJ, Lassila JK, Fenn TD, Zalatan JG, Herschlag D. Biochemistry. 2008; 47 (29): 7663-72
• A repulsive field: advances in the electrostatics of the ion atmosphere. Chu VB, Bai Y, Lipfert J, Herschlag D, Doniach S. Curr Opin Chem Biol. 2008; 12 (6): 619-25