Robert Landick
Credentials: Biochemistry Department
Position title: RNA polymerase structure, function, and regulation
Email: rlandick@wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 265-8475
Address:
5441 Microbial Sciences Building
1550 Linden Dr
Madison, WI 53706
LAB WEBSITE:
FOCUS GROUPS:
Molecular & Genome Biology of Microbes; Transcriptional Mechanisms, Systems Biology
RESEARCH DESCRIPTION:
Our research focuses on (1) RNA polymerase, the central enzyme of gene expression in all free-living organisms; (2) mechanisms by which gene expression by RNA polymerase is regulated and can be re-programmed for biodesign; and (3) applications of these basic research advances to microbial biotechnology and to antibiotic discovery. Our basic research focus is to understand how the fundamental properties of RNA polymerase, largely conserved from bacteria to human, make it susceptible to pausing, arrest, or termination and how elongation regulators, nucleoprotein structures, and metabolic, developmental, and environmental signals alter these properties. We use a variety of approaches, including genetics, biomolecular chemistry, synthetic biology, systems biology, biophysics, and structural biology, to study both fundamental and applied paradigms of gene regulation.
ALSO A TRAINER IN THE FOLLOWING PROGRAMS: Biochemistry (IPiB), Genetics, Biophysics, Microbiology (MDTP)