Frederick William Studier

Research has centered on conformations and interactions of DNA, and using genetic and biochemical techniques to understand how bacteriophage T7 rapidly redirects the metabolism of Escherichia coli entirely to the production of new phage particles. Techniques developed in this work have found wide application, particularly slab gel electrophoresis for analysis of proteins and nucleic acids, and gene expression systems based on T7 RNA polymerase. Recent interests include comparative analysis of whole-genome DNA sequences of different strains of E. coli to try to understand processes involved in bacterial genome evolution. Interactions between co-evolving populations of bacteria and the phages that infect them appear to be a crucial element.