Introduction

Ribosomes are large RNA-protein complexes that catalyze protein synthesis in cells by coupling decoding of messenger RNA to peptide bond formation. Protein synthesis has a central role in cellular homeostasis and the importance of accurate and efficient ribosome assembly is underlined by a variety of human diseases in which this pathway is impaired.

In our lab we study eukaryotic ribosome assembly to understand how more than 200 factors catalyze this process in the nucleolus, nucleus and cytoplasm. We combine yeast genetics and cellular imaging with novel biochemical and structural biology tools such as X-ray crystallography and cryo-electron microscopy. Our long-term goal is a mechanistic understanding of ribosome assembly at atomic resolution.