Research Interests
The main research interests of the Ouellet Lab consist of nucleic acid folding. The projects are within two categories:
- Fundamental understanding of RNA folding (or DNA folding)
- Development of aptamers for their potential use as biosensors
Nucleic Acid Folding
Adopting the proper tertiary structure for an RNA is essential for its activity. It is however often not enough; many RNAs rely on their tertiary structure to change over the course of a reaction. That folding pathway can be monitored by multiple techniques.
We are currently using Fluorescence to monitor folding of catalytic RNAs and DNAs.
We are also probing RNA structures using common techniques of specific RNA degradation and modification.
Aptamers
The aptamers that we are creating are RNA molecules that bind tightly and specifically to a ligand of our choice. Those aptamers are created by using a degenerate pool of 1 x 1020 RNA strands of unique sequences. In order to select uniquely the RNAs that can bind the ligand, we use an allosteric hammerhead ribozyme (Soukup and Breaker, Structure 1999) where the hammerhead cleaves solely in the presence of the ligand.
We are currently selecting aptamer against metabolites as well as sugars.