Confirmed Speaker

Anna Marie Pyle

Anna Marie Pyle is the William Edward Gilbert Professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology and Professor of Chemistry at Yale University. Originally from New Mexico, she obtained her undergraduate degree in Chemistry from Princeton University and received her Ph.D. in Chemistry from Columbia University in 1990. During her graduate work with Professor Jacqueline K. Barton, Dr. Pyle developed transition-metal complexes for recognizing DNA microstructures and initiating site-specific redox chemistry. Dr. Pyle was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Thomas Cech, where she began her studies on molecular recognition of RNA. Specifically, she investigated the role of 2’-hydroxyl groups in the stabilization of RNA tertiary structure. Dr. Pyle formed her own research group in 1992 in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Columbia University Medical Center, where she initiated her studies on the structure and function of self-splicing group II introns and RNA remodeling proteins. In 2002, she moved to Yale University, where she is now a faculty member in the Biology and Chemistry departments. Dr. Pyle has received many awards, served in a leadership capacity at Yale and Columbia and is author of more than 130 publications.

The Pyle laboratory uses a diverse set of biochemical and biophysical techniques, including crystallography and chemical probing, to understand the structural complexity and plasticity of RNA architecture. The goal is to understand how specific three-dimensional RNA structures are formed, how their shapes are stabilized, and to define the constituent building blocks for RNA tertiary structure.  Group II introns, which are among the largest ribozymes in nature, have provided a valuable model system for studying RNA tertiary structure and folding. These studies are now complemented by investigations on the tertiary structure of long noncoding RNAs that are involved in transcriptional activation and repression.

Just as RNA molecules must fold, they must also be disassembled during the dynamic process of cellular metabolism. Therefore, we also study how RNA structures are taken apart by cellular nanomachines such as RNA remodeling enzymes and helicases. These motor proteins are essential for all aspects of RNA metabolism, and yet we have only begun to understand the microscopic details of their behavior. More recently, we have begun to study how these machines function as surveillance proteins, binding viral RNA and protecting our cells from pathogens.

Experimental studies in the Pyle laboratory are complemented by computational investigations, as we develop new tools for solving, analyzing and predicting RNA tertiary structures. An integrated approach, involving experimental and computational science strategies, is providing useful new ways to conceptualize, study and utilize RNA molecules and their associated proteins.

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