Maria Kireeva, Ph.D.

Dr. Kireeva’s research is focused on mechanisms promoting faithful transcription of genomic DNA in bacteria, yeast and mammals. She is investigating fidelity of mRNA synthesis using biochemically defined and cell extract-based systems. She participates in a collaborative effort to reveal mechanisms and biological effects of misincorporations, insertions and deletions during transcription elongation and explores effects of DNA damage on RNA polymerase II progression. Dr. Kireeva is actively involved in development of new therapeutic applications of native and chemically-modified RNA-based nanoparticles. In an effort to find new safe anti-HCV therapy, she established that the ability of nuclear RNA polymerase II to metabolize anti-viral NTP analogues may contribute to the compound toxicity.