Yu Bao, an IPiB graduate student, will be defending his Ph.D. research on July 27, 2023.
Bao’s research in the Landick Lab uses E. coli as a model organism to study RNA polymerase transcription mechanisms. “We are interested in the structure of RNA polymerase – the machinery responsible for the transcription process,” says Bao. “I used both biochemical and bioinformatic methods to solve scientific problems. The major tool I used is to construct mutants to study the function of a specific module in RNA polymerase.”
Before coming to study at UW–Madison, Bao became familiar with molecular research and methodology through an internship program in Shanghai, China. “I started to become interested in understanding the relationship between structure and function of molecular machineries,” says Bao. “The Landick Lab is looking at RNA polymerase structure and function, so this has been a good opportunity for me to use my knowledge and build on it to study problems in this field.”
Bao’s work has included collaborative research to identify RNA polymerase structures, including with the Darst Lab at The Rockefeller University. His research has been published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences and Nature.
After graduating, Bao will work as a post-doctoral research fellow at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England where he will continue to explore transcription mechanisms, this time in eukaryotic systems.
To learn more about Bao’s research, attend his Ph.D. defense, “Sequence Insertion 3 of Escherichia coli RNA Polymerase Regulates Transcriptional Pausing,” on Thursday, July 27 at 1:00 CT in Room 1211 of the Hector F. DeLuca Biochemical Sciences Building.