Bachelor of Science, Chemistry: Universitat de Barcelona, 2010 - 2011 (Barcelona, Spain) Kennesaw State University, 2012 - 2015 (Kennesaw, GA, USA) Ph.D. in Chemistry: Georgia Institute of Technology, 2015 – present (Atlanta, GA, USA)
I am currently studying the rRNA expansion segments (ESs) of the human and yeast ribosomes, which are long tentacle-like helices located on the surface of eukaryotic ribosomes. I am interested in studying the structure of these surface-exposed rRNA regions as well as determining their functional roles. We have found that specific human ESs are capable of forming non-canonical secondary structures called G-quadruplexes and bind to multiple helicases and other RNA remodeling proteins. Our main hypothesis is that eukaryotic ribosomes use these rRNA tentacles to be direct participants in multiple cellular processes.
Mestre-Fos, S., Penev, P.I., Suttapitugsakul, S., Hu, M., Ito, C., Petrov, A.S., Wartell, R.M., Wu, R., Williams, L.D. “G-Quadruplexes in Human Ribosomal RNA” J. Mol. Biol. (2019)