Scholar Profile

Richard H. Ebright

Investigator
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
Rutgers University
Piscataway, NJ 08854
Voice: 732-445-5179
Fax: 732-445-5735
Email: ebright@waksman.rutgers.edu
Personal Homepage
1989 Searle Scholar

Research Interests

Our laboratory works at the interface between chemistry and biology. Our research is focused on the first step in gene expression: i.e., transcription. Our objectives are to understand the structure, the function, and the regulation of transcription complexes and to develop gene-specific inhibitors of transcription as potential gene-specific therapeutic agents.

We use a range of techniques--encompassing genetics, biochemistry, biophysics, and combinatorial chemistry. Our core techniques are site-specific derivatization of protein and DNA, protein-protein and protein-DNA photocrosslinking, fluorescence resonance polarization, and fluorescence energy transfer. Our work to date has focused on static transcription complexes, but we now are initiating kinetic analyses (using laser photocrosslinking and stopped-flow fluorescence spectroscopy) and single-molecule kinetic analyses (using optical and scanning-probe microscopy).