Nucleic Acid Chemistry 

The research focus is nucleic acid chemistry, particularly as related to the in situ light-directed synthesis of RNA and DRNA microarrays for both genomic and non-genomic applications. The RNA microarrays have applications in the discovery and study of protein-RNA interactions, RNase specificity and kinetics, RNA interference, structure-function relationships of riboswitches, etc.

The DNA microarrays are used both in traditional applications, such as measuring gene and miRNA expression, but also for non-genomic  uses, including aptamer microarrays for analyte detection and for high-throughput determination of fluorophore-DNA interactions, such as charge transfer.

Because this research requires close control and a detailed understanding of photochemistry and phosphoramidite chemistry on surfaces, we also develop these areas. Of particular interest are: testing and optimizing new photolabile groups, improving phosphoramidite coupling and overall synthesis efficiency, and the development of analytical methods to assess the purity of oligonucleotides synthesized on microarray