Alan M. Lambowitz

lambowitz@mail.utexas.edu

Director, Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology
Mr. and Mrs. A. Frank Smith, Jr. and Nancy Lee and Perry R. Bass Regents Chairs in Molecular Biology

Research Group

Lambowitz Lab

Education

BS, Brooklyn College, City University of New York, 1968
PhD, Yale University, 1972

Postdoctorate, University of Pennsylvania, Rockefeller University, National Institutes of Health (1973-76)

Awards

Member, National Academy of Sciences, 2004
Texas Academy of Medicine, Engineering, and Scienc, 2004
Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology, 2002
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science, 2001
UT Cooperative Society Award for Best Research Paper, 2000
American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1995
NIH Merit Award, 1993

Affiliations

Institute for Cellular and Molecular Biology

Catalytic RNAs and Retroelements: Structure, Function, Evolution and Practical Applications

Our laboratory studies gene expression, RNA splicing, catalytic RNAs, and retroviral genetic elements, including possible ancestors of the AIDS and leukemia viruses. We recently discovered a novel mechanism for site-specific DNA insertion used by autocatalytic group II introns. The nature of this mechanism suggests that group II introns might be used in new approaches for genetic engineering and gene therapy, applicable to a wide variety of diseases.

Research interests include: mechanisms of RNA catalysis, how proteins assist formation of RNA structure, mechanisms involved in intron mobility, the evolution of introns and splicing mechanisms, the origin of retroviruses and reverse transcription, and the development of novel methods for functional genomics and gene therapy.

 

Representative Publications

Mallam, A.L., Jarmoskaite, I., Tijerina, P., Del Campo, M., Seifert, S., Guo, L., Russell, R. and Lambowitz, A.M. Solution structures of DEAD-box RNA chaperones reveal conformational changes and nucleic acid tethering by a basic tail. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, in press, 2011.

Mohr, G., Ghanem, E., and Lambowitz, A.M. Mechanisms used for genomic proliferation by thermophilic group II introns. PLoS Biol., 8, e1000391, 2010.

Lambowitz, A.M. and Zimmerly, S. Group II introns: mobile ribozymes that invade DNA. In: RNA Worlds: From Life’s Origins to Diversity in Gene Regulation (R.F. Gesteland, T.R. Cech, and J.F. Atkins, Editors), Cold Spring Harbor Perspect. Biol. 1:a003616, 2010.

Del Campo, M., Lambowitz, A.M. "Structure of the yeast DEAD-box protein MSS116p reveals two wedges that crimp RNA" Mol. Cell 35 (2009): 598-609.

Zhuang, F., Mastroianni, M., White, T.B., and Lambowitz, A.M. Linear group II intron RNAs can retrohome in eukaryotes and may use non-homologous end-joining for cDNA ligation, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., USA, 106, 18189-18194, 2009

Del Campo, M., Lambowitz, A.M. "Structure of the yeast DEAD-box protein MSS116p reveals two wedges that crimp RNA" Mol. Cell 35 (2009): 598-609.

 

Paukstelis, P.J., Chen, J.H., Chase, E., Lambowitz, A.M.,Golden, B.L. "Structure of a tyrosyl-tRNA synthetase splicing factor bound to a group I intron RNA" Nature 451 (2008): 94-97.

Lambowitz, A.M., and Zimmerly, S. "Mobile group II introns" Annu. Rev. Genet. 38 (2004): 1-35.