Tina Henkin

BIOGRAPHY

ACADEMIC POSITION:
Robert W and Estelle S Bingham Professor of Biological Sciences

EDUCATION:
• 1977 BA, Biology, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA. Undergraduate Research Advisor: Dr Steven Takats, Department of Biology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA
• 1984 PhD, Genetics, University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI. Advisor: Dr Glenn H Chambliss, Department of Bacteriology. Thesis title: Genetic analysis of a streptomycin-resistant, oligosporogenous mutant of Bacillus subtilis

AWARDS:
• 2004 Distinguished Scholar Award
• 2006 Pfizer Prize in Molecular Biology
• 2006 Waksman Foundation Lecturer (2006-2008)
• 2006 College Distinguished Professor

RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Mechanisms of gene regulation, transcriptional and post-transcriptional control, RNA structure/function, microbial physiology, RNA recognition of small molecules, riboswitch RNAs, antibiotic development.

The main area of interest in our laboratory is the analysis of the mechanisms through which cells sense changes in their environment and transmit that information to the level of gene expression. We use the Gram-positive bacterium Bacillus subtilis as a model system, and we focus primarily on genes involved in protein synthesis and amino acid metabolism.We have uncovered systems in which nascent RNA transcripts act as riboswitches to directly sense physiological signals and control gene expression through RNA structural rearrangements.

HOME PAGE
http://microbiology.osu.edu/faculty/henkin-tina-m