Prof. Uttam L RajBhandary

Transfer RNAs, Protein Synthesis, Suppressor tRNAs, RNA-protein Interactions and Proteins Carrying Unnatural Amino Acids: From assembly of RNA viruses to mRNA localization during development, RNA-protein interactions play a crucial role in gene expression, gene regulation and development. The many proteins with which tRNAs interact during protein synthesis make tRNAs excellent systems for investigating specific RNA-protein interactions. We study tRNA structure, function, and biosynthesis using biochemistry, genetics and in vivo functional studies. We also work on the use of suppressor tRNAs to generate proteins carrying one or more unnatural amino acids in bacteria, mammalian cells, and yeast.