We are investigating chemical activity and structure in nucleic acids and proteins, with an emphasis on metal interactions. Proteins have long been known to exploit and tune the reactive properties of metals in order to perform reactions that are sometimes unavailable to the benchtop chemist. It has only recently been determined that ribonucleic acid (RNA) also catalyzes chemical reactions in certain biologically important systems. RNA has its own distinctive metallobiochemistry. Our research group examines such systems using tools of biological and bioinorganic chemistry, and spectroscopic methods. These are interdisciplinary studies that lie at the interface of biology and chemistry.
Platinum and RNA
We are investigating Pt(II) reagents to probe RNA structure and RNA-small molecule interactions. Check out our research using Pt(II) compounds and RNA.
Click Chemistry
We also use click chemistry to identify, tag, and purify platinum targets. Check out our section on using platinum with a clickable reactive handle as well as the diverse set of clickable reagents we use.