Ilya Finkelstein

At the University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Finkelstein’s lab focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms of genome maintenance, including aspects of DNA repair, replication and chromatin biology. He addresses these questions by combining biophysics, ultra-sensitive microscopy and micro-/nano-scale engineering to develop new tools for studying protein-DNA interactions at the single-molecule level. He is continuing to advance the high-throughput “DNA curtains” microfluidics platform for imaging thousands of individual biochemical reactions in real-time. Directly looking at proteins as they perform their biological functions allows his group to uncover mechanistic details that are obscured in traditional biochemical experiments. Elucidating the mechanisms of DNA maintenance is critical to our understanding of both the molecular basis and the therapeutic treatment of devastating human diseases.

[Programming descriptions are generated by participants and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of SXSW.]