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Anne M. Baranger Associate Professor of Chemistry and Biophysics Ph.D. 1993, University of California at Berkeley   Anne M. Baranger 361 Roger Adams Lab 600 S Mathews Avenue Urbana, IL 61801 217-244-7649 baranger@scs.uiuc.edu

We combine biophysical and chemical approaches to understand, control, and modify RNA recognition by proteins and small molecules. We seek to determine the identity and relative energetic contributions of specific molecular interactions that control affinity and specificity, delineate networks of cooperative interactions that contribute to binding, and explore dynamic processes required for binding. We are focusing on complexes formed between RNA and proteins containing the RRM motif. The RRM is one of the most common RNA binding domains and is involved in most steps of gene expression in eukaryotes. We are investigating the ability of non-native interactions to modify RNA-RRM interfaces with the goal of designing RRMs with altered binding specificities. We are using computational selection and rational design approaches to develop small molecule ligands specific for certain classes of RNA structures. One of our long-term goals is to use the information gained in these studies to develop methods to rationally control processes involving RNA, such as alternative splicing.