ufmuller@ucsd.edu
Urey Hall 5218

Professor Ulrich Muller

Principle Investigator

Uli Müller is interested in the evolution of catalytic RNAs (ribozymes).

The main focus is the question 'How did Life Start?' - I believe that the answer to this question lies in an interdisciplinary approach combining RNA biochemistry (catalytic RNAs and their selection, evolution, characterization), a diverse, prebiotically plausible environment (peptides and peptide conjugates, other small and large organic molecules, metal ions) and in the discovery of principles that require us to think outside the box of today's biochemistry (e.g. the assembly of catalytic oligonucleotide complexes). This all goes on within a context of geochemistry ('what minerals were available?'), cosmochemistry ('what compounds delivered by meteorites could have been important for origins of life?' - examples are the mineral Schreibersite and polyaromatic hydrocarbons), and the NASA-centered question how life may look like of we were to find it on a different planet. 

We are also interested in developing therapeutic ribozymes based on self-splicing group I intron ribozymes. We re-design them into trans-splicing ribozymes that can remove and/or replace RNA fragments on substrate RNAs, and thereby re-program them for treatments of diseases. To do that, we have developed directed evolution strategies that improved different sequences on the ribozymes. We hope that the near future will see ribozyme-based RNA splicing as a useful approach for clinical applications. 

xuhan@ucsd.edu
Urey Hall 5226

Han, Xu

Xu works on oligonucleotides that assemble into catalytic complexes, and on increasing the turnover of the GTP synthase ribozyme. 

desarkar@ucsd.edu
Urey Hall 5222

Sarkar, Debolina

Debolina works on the development of trans-splicing group I intron ribozymes for therapeutic applications. 

tol051@ucsd.edu
Urey Hall 5225

Le, Tommy

Tommy works on peptide conjugates that can act as cofactors for self-triphosphorylation ribozymes. 

Rubini Mohanaraj

Rubini works on trans-splicing group I introns for therapeutic applications. 

Nupoor Patil

Nupoor works on peptide conjugates acting as cofactors for self-triphosphorylation ribozymes. 

Tania Frank

Tania works on oligonucleotides that assemble into catalytic complexes. 

Zoe Pepper

Zoe works on the turnover of the GTP synthase ribozyme.