R. Vafabakhsh

The paper investigates the physical mechanisms of nucleolus disassembly during mitosis, identifying two distinct phases and proposing a universal design principle for biomolecular condensate disassembly.

The paper uses cryo-EM and smFRET to study the structure and dynamics of the TFIIIA-TFIIIC complex bound to the 5S rRNA promoter, revealing DNA bending and dissociation during transcription initiation.

The paper develops FRET sensors to study allosteric modulators in mGluR2, revealing how they alter receptor conformation and signaling.

The paper determines the composition of the bacteriophage T4 DNA packaging motor and shows that it can tolerate an inactive subunit, challenging the idea of strict coordination among motor subunits.