David N.P. Koppstein
Graduate Student, Bartel Lab
Whitehead Institute, Room 621
9 Cambridge Center
Cambridge, MA 02142
E-mail: dnk63{at}mit{dot}edu
My blog
About Me
I'm a third year graduate student in the MIT Biology department. I recently joined the Bartel Lab, where I have begun characterizing the recently discovered RNAi pathway of budding yeast. I am broadly interested in the fascinating world of noncoding RNA biology, especially RNAi. Specifically, I am interested in its protective role against genomic parasites, the biochemical characterization of its effector complexes, and quantitative models of silencing. I also dabble in virology, computer science, and systems biology.
My undergraduate years were spent at Yale, where I earned a B.S. in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry. After several years in the Steitz Lab working on Herpesvirus saimiri U RNAs, I spent a year as a staff programmer in the Gerstein lab examining genome-wide mRNA profiling technologies.
In my spare time, I enjoy reading, playing ultimate frisbee, cycling, and exploring Boston with the fabulous group of souls that comprises the biology grad students.Publications
- Russell JR, Huang J, Anand P, Kucera K, Sandoval AG, Dantzler KW, Hickman D, Jee J, Kimovec FM, Koppstein D, Marks DH, Mittermiller PA, Nunez SJ, Santiago M, Townes MA, Vishnevetsky M, Williams NE, Vargas MP, Boulanger LA, Bascom-Slack C, Strobel SA. Biodegradation of polyester polyurethane by endophytic fungi. Appl Environ Microbiol. 2011 77(17):6076-84.
- Agarwal A, Koppstein D, Rozowsky J, Sboner A, Habegger L, Hillier LW, Sasidharan R, Reinke V, Waterston RH, and Gerstein M. Comparison and calibration of transcriptome data from RNA-Seq and tiling arrays. BMC Genomics. 2010 11:383.
- Mukhopadhyay J, Das K, Ismail S, Koppstein D, Jang M, Hudson B, Sarafianos S, Tuske S, Patel J, Jansen R, Irschik H, Arnold E, Ebright RH. The RNA Polymerase "Switch Region" Is a Target for Inhibitors. Cell. 2008 Oct 17;135(2):295-307.