About Us

Research in the Harris Laboratory seeks to address fundamentally important questions in RNA biology and enzyme mechanism: How does Nature harness the chemical and physical properties of RNA to achieve catalysis? Can we comprehensively model and accurately predict the specificity of RNA processing enzymes? How can we leverage our understanding of enzyme allosteric, catalysis, and specificity to discover inhibitor of RNA and protein enzymes as novel therapeutics?

To answer these questions we apply a broad range of experimental tools including high throughput enzymology, rapid reaction kinetics, and spectroscopy, and we are engaged in long term synergistic collaborations integrating structural biology, computation, and medicinal chemistry.

Our long-term vision is to make a fundamental leap forward in our understanding of biological phosphoryl transfer, develop broadly useful quantitative and comprehensive concepts of RNA specificity, and realize novel opportunities in drug discovery.