Newswise — For Lucas Farnung , there is no question more fascinating than how a single fertilized egg develops into a fully-functioning human. As a structural biologist, he is studying this process on the smallest scale: the trillions of atoms that must synchronize their work to make it happen. “I don’t see a big difference between solving a 5,000-piece jigsaw puzzle and the research we are doing in my lab,” says Farnung, an assistant professor of cell biology in the Blavatnik Institute at Harvard Medical School.
“We are trying to figure out what this process looks like visually, and from there we can form ideas about how it works.” Nearly all cells in the human body contain the same genetic material, but what tissue types those cells become during development — whether they become liver or skin, for example — is largely driven by gene expression, which dictates which genes are turned on and off. Gene expression is regulated by a process called transcription — the focus of Farnung’s work.
During transcription, molecular machines read instructions contained in the genetic blueprint stored inside DNA, and create RNA, the molecule that carries out the instructions. Other molecular machines read RNA and use this information to make proteins that fuel almost all activities in the body. Farnung studies the structure and function of the molecular machines responsible for transcription.
In a conversation with Harvard Medicine News , Farnung discussed his work and .