Santa Fe Institute Collaboration Platform

Origins

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Contact: Chris Kempes, Project Principal Investigator, ckempes@santafe.edu

User:DonaldBurke

From Origins

Donald Burke.jpg

Name
Donald Burke
Affiliation
Univ. Missouri
Email address
burkedh@missouri.edu

Biography

Whether we are thinking about the Origin of Life, about the Molecular mechanisms of Viral Pathogenesis, or about RNA-based therapeutics, three kinds of questions underly our work: 1) What can nucleic acids do? 2) How do their sequences and structures relate to their ability to do it? and 3) Can we engineer new biologies by expressing artificial RNAs in cells?

Most of the RNA and ssDNA molecules we work with are isolated using the technology of in vitro directed molecular evolution (SELEX, Systematic Evolution of Ligands by EXponential enrichment). The SELEX technology recovers rare functional molecules - for almost any function - from exceedingly complex mixtures, allowing us to explore the chemical and biological limits of what RNA and DNA can do. (Click here for a tutorial on SELEX.)

Related links

Involvement in the Origins Research Theme

Attendee

This user is listed as an attendee for the following meetings:

  1. Major Transitions in Life: Origins to Translation