Lucia B. Rothman-Denes

The University of Chicago


Primary Section: 26, Genetics
Secondary Section: 44, Microbial Biology
Membership Type:
Member (elected 2014)

Biosketch

Lucia Rothman-Denes is the A. J. Carlson Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Cell Biology of the Biological Sciences Division, University of Chicago. She is a molecular biologist and microbiologist known for her studies of regulation of transcription and host interactions during bacterial virus infection. Rothman-Denes was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1943. She graduated in 1964 with a Licenciado degree in chemistry from the School of Sciences of the University of Buenos Aires and a PhD in biological chemistry in 1967 from the same institution, working at the Leloir Institute in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She did postdoctoral studies at the National Institutes of Health and the University of Chicago. She has been on the Faculty at the University of Chicago since 1975. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Academy of Microbiology and a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Research Interests

Dr. Rothman-Denes’ research is focused on how bacterial viruses usurp their hosts’ molecular processes. Combining genetic, biochemical, biophysical and structural approaches, work has uncovered new mechanisms of transcription regulation through DNA structural transitions that lead to promoter recognition and RNA polymerase activation, and single-stranded DNA binding proteins as transcriptional activators. At present, the focus is to elucidate the mechanism of protein and genome injection into the host at the onset of infection, to characterize viral-encoded products that inhibit essential host functions, and identify their targets to provide insights into new antibiotic strategies

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