Our goal is to gain a predictive understanding of the principles by which RNA molecules fold into their biologically active structures. Through an interdisciplinary research effort that integrates theory and experiment, we conduct fundamental studies of RNA in order to gain insight into the complex free energy landscapes that drive co-transcriptional folding, and ultimately give rise to the structural and functional properties of cellular RNA.  By dissecting the process of RNA folding into modular components, we aim to advance our understanding of the thermodynamic and kinetic factors that dictate folding pathways and the distribution of unfolded and folded states.