Director, Nucleic Acid/Molecular Research, Discovery Technologies
Kevin Luebke received his Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the California Institute of Technology and did postdoctoral studies in the biophysical chemistry of nucleic acids at the University of California at Berkeley, where he was supported by an American Cancer Society fellowship.
Luebke worked for two years as a senior scientist at Hewlett Packard Laboratories, contributing to the development of nucleic acid array technologies, then joined the faculty at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. There, he led efforts in the areas of biomolecule array technologies, tissue engineering, and RNA structure and function.
The emphasis of Luebke’s research program at SRI is on the structure, function, and processing of RNAs associated with disease. A central goal of this research is the discovery and development of molecules that bind to specific RNA targets and modulate their function. These molecules will be useful as probes to dissect biological systems and as drug leads. The lab takes a multidisciplinary approach to this challenge, employing a wide variety of techniques that includes chemical synthesis, high-throughput screening of chemical libraries, spectroscopic and chemical characterization of RNA structure, and biochemical analysis of RNA metabolism.
Selected Publications
- Chirayil S, Wu Q, Amezcua C, Luebke KJ (2014) NMR Characterization of an Oligonucleotide Model of the MiR-21 Pre-Element. PLoS ONE 9(9): e108231. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0108231.
- Diaz JP, Chirayil R, Chirayil S, Tom M, Head KJ, Luebke KJ. Association of a peptoid ligand with the apical loop of pri-miR-21 inhibits cleavage by Drosha. RNA. 2014 Apr;20(4):528-39. doi: 10.1261/rna.042911.113. Epub 2014 Feb 4.
- Chirayil S1, Chirayil R, Luebke KJ. Discovering ligands for a microRNA precursor with peptoid microarrays. Nucleic Acids Res. 2009 Sep;37(16):5486-97. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkp549. Epub 2009 Jun 26.