Investigating the structural basis for regulatory RNP assembly and function

Catherine Eichhorn is an Assistant Professor of Chemistry at UNL. Her research uses integrated structural biology, biophysical, and chemical biology tools to investigate the folding and function of regulatory RNAs and RNPs. Her work aims to elucidate the biophysical properties governing RNP assembly and stability in order to achieve a rigorous understanding of how RNPs regulate gene expression in healthy individuals, and how dysfunction leads to divergent disease phenotypes. The principles deduced from these studies will provide valuable information on RNA conformational dynamics, RNA-protein recognition, and mechanisms of hierarchical protein assembly onto structured RNAs, enabling future studies to probe the mechanism further in vivo and informing the design of therapeutics to target diseases caused by improperly functioning regulatory RNPs.

lab website - https://eichhorngroup.wixsite.com/website