Jonathan Strecker
Assistant Professor of Genetics
Massachusetts General HospitalDepartment of Molecular Biology, Room 7300185 Cambridge StreetBoston, MA 02114
Our lab is broadly interested in the biology of immune proteins found throughout nature. Bacteria have evolved numerous defenses against phage, including CRISPR-Cas systems, and while these predominantly function as RNA-guided nucleases, additional functions exist including CRISPR-associated transposases that perform RNA-targeted DNA insertion, and CRISPR-associated proteases that cleave protein substrates upon RNA detection.
We are interested in how cells sense and respond to nucleic acids and how diverse enzymes can be controlled in a programmable manner. Our long-term goal is to use these basic discoveries to enable new functions in biology and to contribute to our understanding of the human genome.