This project focuses the ubiquitous ion atmosphere, which profoundly influences the overall folding of all complex RNAs. We have chosen to work with simple, structurally well-defined constructs to isolate electrostatic interactions involving the ion atmosphere to their basic core elements. This basic, comprehensive, and rich data is used to rigorously develop and test state-of-the-art electrostatic models and theories that can be applied for prediction and used as tools for design in more complicated RNA systems.

Goal: 

Our aim is to use state of the art experimental and theoretical methods to understand how the ionic atmosphere forms around nucleic acids and how it affects conformational ensembles of simple helix-junction-helix (HJH) RNA or DNA motifs.