Scientific Director: Jessica Bowman

Role: 
Director
Location: 
Georgia Institute of Technology, IBB 1203
Education: 

B.S., Kennesaw State University, 2000.

Research Interests: 

The ubiquities of RNA and protein biochemistries, especially the roles of inorganic cations, water and other physicochemical factors in polymer synthesis, folding, function, mutualism, and persistence.

Selected publications: 

Runnels C, Lanier KA, Williams JK, Bowman JC, Petrov AS, Hud NV, and Williams LD. Folding, Assembly, and Persistence: The Essential Nature and Origins of Biopolymers.  J Mol Evol, 2018, 86(9): 598–610.

Bray MS, Lenz TK, Haynes JW, Bowman JC, Petrov AS, Reddi AR, Hud NV, Williams LD, and Glass JB. Multiple Prebiotic Metals Mediate Translation. Proc Natl Acad Sci, 2018, 115(48): 12164-69.

Bowman JC, Petrov AS, and Williams LD. Role of Ions in RNA Folding and Function. In Handbook of Astrobiology; Vera Kolb, Ed; CRC Press: Boca Raton, FL, 2018, Chapter 6.4.

Okafor CD, Lanier KA, Petrov AS, Athavale SS, Bowman JC, Hud NV, and Williams LD. Iron Mediates Catalysis of Nucleic Acid Processing Enzymes: Support for Fe(II) as a Cofactor before the Great Oxidation Event. Nucleic Acids Res, 2017, 45(7): 3634-42.

Bowman, JC, Hud, NV, Williams, LD. The ribosome challenge to the RNA world. J Mol Evol, 2015, 80(3-4): 143-61.

Hsiao C, Lenz TK, Peters JK, Fang PY, Schneider DM, Anderson EJ, Preeprem T, Bowman JC, O'Neill EB, Lie L, Athavale SS, Gossett JJ, Trippe C, Murray J, Petrov AS, Wartell RM, Harvey SC, Hud NV, Williams LD. Molecular paleontology: a biochemical model of the ancestral ribosome. Nucleic Acids Res, 2013, 41(5):3373-85.

Bowman JC, Lenz TK, Hud NV, and Williams LD. Cations in Charge: Magnesium Ions in RNA Folding and Catalysis. Curr Opin Struct Biol, 2012, 22(3): 262-72.

Athavale SS, Petrov AS, Hsiao C, Watkins D, Prickett CD, Gossett JJ, Lie L, Bowman JC, O'Neill E, Bernier CR, Hud NV, Wartell R, Harvey SC, and Williams LD. RNA Folding and Catalysis Mediated by Iron (II). PLoS ONE, 2012, 7(5): e38024.

Petrov AS, Bowman JC, Harvey SC, and Williams LD. Bidentate RNA-Magnesium Clamps: On the Origin of the Special Role of Magnesium in RNA Folding. RNA, 2011, 17(2):291-7.

Bowman, JC, and Williams, L.D. Nucleic Acids. In Encyclopedia of Astrobiology; Gargaud, M., Cernicharo, J., Viso, M., Cleaves II, H. J., Pinti, D., Amils, R., and Kobayashi, K., Eds.; Springer, New York, NY, 2011.