Biography

TP is a molecular biologist determining the mechanisms and transcriptome-wide patterns of eukaryotic mRNA translation as one of life’s core processes and its regulation by RNA-binding proteins and non-coding RNA as a means of controlling gene activity.
His work lent support to the ‘closed-loop’ model of translation initiation. His lab uncovered a correlative network linking poly(A) tail length to other mRNA characteristics and cellular processes. Investigating the miRNA mechanism he discovered that miRNAs target key components of the mRNA closed-loop during translation initiation: they block functions of the cap structure as well as the poly(A) tail.
A current focus is the functional analysis of eukaryotic transcriptomes by next generation sequencing with an emphasis on miRNA and mRNA processing diversity, understanding the translation process, and the detection of RNA modifications.