Anssi Malinen

Background

About Anssi Malinen

I lead 'Regulation of Eukaryotic Transcription (RET)' research group at the University of Turku, Finland We are particularly interested in the functional mechanisms of RNA polymerases. Cell employs these RNA polymerase enzymes to read genomic information in response to its ever-changing needs. Our current research focuses on RNA polymerase I (Pol I) that produces ribosomal RNA – the building block of cellular protein factories. Excessively active Pol I allows cancer cells to grow beyond normal controls. To understand how the function of Pol I is regulated in normal and sick cells, we investigate the molecular events that take place when Pol I begins the production of ribosomal RNA.My core scientific competences (research related): regulation of gene expression, in vitro transcription; mechanistic enzymology (including pre-steady-state, steady-state and single-molecule enzyme kinetics, structural modeling, protein expression and purification); single-molecule fluorescence techniques; molecular evolution and phylogenetic analysis; membrane proteins; bioprocess technology (strain engineering, upstream fermentations, downstream purifications).