Gideon Dreyfuss
Professor, Biochemistry and Biophysics; University of Pennsylvania
Gideon Dreyfuss and his group study the ribonucleoprotein complexes (RNPs) that form on primary gene transcripts (pre-mRNAs), focusing on their constituent RNA-binding proteins and noncoding small nuclear RNPs (snRNPs), the two key instruments of mRNA processing and gene regulation, whose perturbations underlie numerous diseases. Areas emerging from these studies are being pursued: the SMN complex, the RNA-protein chaperone required for snRNP assembly; and pre-mRNA protection, a crucial step that shapes the transcriptome.