¡NB!:
As of 2018, our scientific endeavors can be found at
bournelab.org.
The present site, muralab.org, will
continue to be maintained, though likely only intermittently (it may lag).
Welcome...
The Mura Lab seeks a deeper understanding of the structure,
function/dynamics, and evolution of RNA– and DNA–based
protein assemblies. In particular, we are currently investigating
ribonucleoprotein (RNP) assemblies built upon scaffolds of Sm proteins,
such as the Sm-like archaeal proteins ('SmAP') shown at left, as part
of efforts to elucidate questions such as what these protein•••RNA
complexes look like at atomic resolution (structure),
their assembly pathways and dynamical behavior (function), and the
inter-relationships between Sm and Sm-like systems from the
Archaeal, Bacterial, and Eukaryotic domains of life
(evolution). Pursuit of this work is necessarily highly
multidisciplinary, employing both experimental methodologies
(wet-lab biochemistry & biophysics, crystallography) as well as
computational approaches (e.g., bioinformatics, MD simulations).