Gideon Dreyfuss

Made seminal discoveries concerning RNA-binding proteins and small non-coding ribonucleoproteins (snRNPs), the two major classes of components eukaryotic cells use to process and regulate protein-coding messenger RNAs (mRNAs). Described their critical roles in mRNA processing, transport and translation in normal and diseased cells. Defined now-classic major RNA binding motifs and found that many nuclear proteins shuttle rapidly and continuously between the nucleus and cytoplasm. His group also discovered the SMN complex and its unexpected function in assembly of snRNPs, the spliceosome’s major subunits. Recently, he found that U1 snRNP protects nascent gene transcripts, a crucial step in gene expression.