MB&B Seminar: Ruben Gonzalez, "The Mechanism of mRNA Activation"

Our research group utilizes single-molecule biophysics, structural biology, and biochemistry to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that drive mRNA translation, translational control, and other fundamental biological processes. In my upcoming seminar, I will present our latest discovery: an unexpected mechanism through which the eukaryotic initiation factor (eIF) 4F complex recognizes the 5’ ‘cap’ of an mRNA and activates it for translation. This mechanism provides a general framework for understanding how mRNAs may be discriminated from one another and how mRNA- binding proteins may control the efficiency of translation.