Eric Galburt

The Galburt lab studies the molecular mechanisms underlying transcription initiation and DNA repair in Bacteria and Eukaryotes. Four current lines of investigation are ongoing in the lab: 1. Transcriptional regulation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis 2. DNA repair helicase activation in Mycobacterium tuberculosis 3. Development and application of high-throughput in vitro measures of transcription rates. 4. DNA unwinding and start-site scanning by the Pre-Initiation Complex in Yeast and Humans The lab specializes in using biochemical and biophysical techniques to monitor reactions in real-time. These techniques allow for the quantification of the rates and magnitudes of conformational transitions in RNA polymerase, its associated transcription factors, DNA helicases, and the DNA templates on which these molecular motors act. Our goal is to understand how reaction kinetics are dictated by molecular interactions and how they encode basal and regulatory biochemical activities.

Ankita Chadda, Alexander G Kozlov, Binh Nguyen, Timothy M Lohman, & Eric A Galburt (2024). “Mycobacterium tuberculosis Ku Stimulates Multi-round DNA Unwinding by UvrD1 Monomers” J Mol Biol. 2024 Jan 15;436(2):168367. doi: 10.1016/j.jmb.2023.168367. Epub 2023 Nov 14. (Abstract) Drake Jensen, Ana Ruiz Manzano, Maxwell Rector, Eric J Tomko, M Thomas Record, & Eric A Galburt (2023). “High-throughput, fluorescent-aptamer-based measurements of steady-state transcription rates for the Mycobacterium tuberculosis RNA polymerase” J Cell Biol. 2024 Jan 1;223(1):e202312031. doi: 10.1083/jcb.202312031. Epub 2023 Dec 12. (Abstract)