Specificity and architecture of protein-mRNA interactions regulating gene expression

This proposal is to study proteins that are important in the regulation of gene expression by binding to
messenger RNA. These proteins are involved in regulating genes that control cell proliferation, inflammation
and also viral genome replication. We will determine the molecular basis for their interactions using tools
which allow us to measure binding affinities and molecular shapes. We will also examine the impact of
protein modifications or presence of microRNA molecules on the binding interactions. In this way we will
discover some of the rules that dictate the regulation of gene expression at the level of messenger RNA.