Welcome to the Patel Lab
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Rutgers - Robert Wood Johnson Medical School
The overarching goal of our research is to understand the basic mechanisms of life's essential processes including DNA replication, DNA transcription, and pathogen recognition by innate immune receptors.
We specialize in quantitative characterization of protein-nucleic acids interactions and dissection of multistep enzymatic reactions into its elementary steps for complete characterization of biochemical pathways. We are pushing fluorescence based methods, transient state kinetics, single molecule kinetics, and computational kinetic modeling to characterize the mechanisms of nucleic acid motor proteins such as DNA and RNA helicases and polymerases in various processes.
Our current research investigates the cooperativity and enzymatic mechanisms of multisubunit protein complexes that catalyze human mitochondrial DNA replication and transcription and self and non self RNA recognition by the RIG-I like helicase innate immune receptors. Our research has application in biotechnology and therapeutics.
News
NIGMS MIRA grant
Lab receives an NIH MIRA grant to study the mechanisms of enzymes involved in DNA replication, transcription, and innate immunity.
Self and non-self RNA discrimination by RIG-I. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 2016
This work provides new structural and biochemical insights into the mechanisms of host and viral immune evasion from RIG-I.
TFB2M and TFAM synergistically melt the human mitochondrial DNA promoter. Ramachandran A et al. Nucleic Acids Research 2016 |
SWAPNIL D. WINS SHATKIN AWARD
Swapnil Devarkar was awarded the Aaron Shatkin Graduate Scholarship by The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences - New Brunswick/Piscataway Division. Dr. Aaron Shatkin was the founding director of the Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine.
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Urmimala B. awarded AHA fellowship
Urmimala Basu was awarded the American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship to study the mechanism of human mitochondrial transcription enzymes.
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This work indicates that TFAM has both recruitment and post-recruitment roles during transcription initiation at the Light Strand Promoter of the human mitochondrial DNA
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