The Finkelstein Lab

We develop new biophysical methods to understand how molecular machines edit and repair our genomes. Current lab interests include CRISPR-cas adaptive immunity and eukaryotic DNA repair.

Photo by Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman

High-throughput single-molecule imaging with DNA curtains

Scanning electron micrograph of the fission yeast lifespan microdissector (FYLM)

Photo by Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman

Computational alignment of DNA clusters visualized on a recycled NGS chip

Photo by Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman

Fluorescent DNA clusters on a recycled NGS chip

Microfabricated quartz wafers for assembling DNA curtains

Photo by Jay Janner/Austin American-Statesman

News

December 19, 2025: Selma, Hongshan, and Eric’s One-Pot isothermal CRISPR detection paper is published in ACS Synthetic Biology.

October 28, 2025: Jesse Buffington is awarded an NIH F31 Ruth L. Kirschstein Predoctoral Fellowship.

October 23, 2025: Jesse, Jami, Kuang, You-Chiun, and Kamyab’s retron genome editing paper is published in Nature Biotechnology.

September 13, 2025: Alvin, Selma, Jami, Carlos, and Daphne post their Cas13d structure preprint on bioRxiv, revealing the structural basis for target discrimination and activation.

August 1, 2025: IJF is promoted to Full Professor in the Department of Molecular Biosciences.