We study biology through the lens of chemistry and physics, as the physical and chemical properties of biomolecules enable and constrain what biology can do and how it has evolved.

Chemistry and physics are needed to understand and predict biology and to manipulate and engineer biological systems for biomedical and other applications.

We focus on questions of:
how enzymes work
how RNA folds
how proteins recognize RNA
RNA/protein interactions in regulation and control
the evolution of molecules and molecular interactions

Our interdisciplinary approach spans and integrates physics, chemistry and biology, and employs a wide range of techniques.

We are question driven and we use all approaches and techniques that can help including:
•pioneering high-throughput quantitative approaches to study enzymes, RNA and RNA/protein interactions;
•pioneering Quantitative Cellular Biochemistry (QCB) to bring the power of biochemistry to the study of molecular interactions and function in cells:

• QCB provides data at a genomic scale but with carefully designed libraries that allow us to dissect the physical interactions and properties that are important in cells.
•Our initial applications are to RNA structure, RNA/protein interactions, and alternative pre-mRNA splicing.