Investigating the basic cellular processes of ribosomal RNA transcription and ribosome biogenesis by directly visualizing rRNA genes in the electron microscope

We are interested in these processes because ribosome synthesis is strictly regulated and very tightly coupled to cell growth; it is up-regulated in cancer cells and thus is a target of some chemotherapies.

Individual rRNA genes from a variety of organisms are shown below.  These multi-copy genes reside in the nucleolus and are often very highly transcribed.