Scott Strobel

Member of Yale faculty since 1995.

Research Interests

• Chemical Biology
• Biophysical Chemistry
• Organic Chemistry

Research 

Research in the Strobel lab is divided between work on RNA biochemistry and the investigation of novel endophytic fungi associated with rainforest plants. The RNA analysis includes studies of the ribosome and riboswitches. The goal is to understand how RNA promotes chemical reactions and to define the basis of RNA-small molecule interactions. Our work in microbiobial diversity includes the investigation of fungal natural products and their bioactivity.

Education

B.A. Brigham Young University, 1987
Ph.D. California Institute of Technology, 1992
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Predoctoral Fellow, Caltech, 1988-92
Postdoctoral Fellow, Biochemistry, University of Colorado, Boulder, 1992-95

Honors

HHMI Predoctoral Fellow, Caltech, 1988-92
Life Sciences Research Foundation Fellow, CU Boulder, 1992-95
Beckman Young Investigator Award, Yale University, 1997-99
Searle Scholar Award, Yale University, 1997-2000
Beginning Investigator Award, American Cancer Society, Yale University, 2002-06
Dylan Hixon Prize for Teaching Excellence in the Natural Sciences, Yale University, 2004
Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor
Graduate Mentoring Award in the Sciences, Yale University, 2007
Schering Plough Research Institute Award from the ASBMB, 2008
Elected member of the Connecticut Academy of Science and Engineering, 2012

Recent Publications

A. Knappenberger, C. W. Reiss, C. M. Focht and S. A. Strobel, A modular RNA domain that confers differential ligand specificity, Biochemistry. 59, 1361-1366 (2020). PMCID: PMC7311191

D. A. Hiller, B. F. Dunican, S. Nallur, N. Li, J. A. Piccirilli and S. A. Strobel, Positive charge shifts the general base pKa and stabilizes the transition state for mRNA cleavage by the bacterial toxin, Biochemistry 59, 1665-1671 (2020). PMCID: PMC7260706

C. D. Torgerson, D. A. Hiller and S. A. Strobel, The asymmetry and cooperativity of tandem glycine riboswitch aptamers, RNA 26, 564-580 (2020) PMCID: PMC7161355

C. D. Torgerson, D. A. Hiller, S. Stav and S. A. Strobel, Gene regulation by a glycine riboswitch singlet uses a finely tuned energetic landscape for helical switching, RNA 24, 1813–1827 (2018).  PMCID: PMC6239177

A. J. Knappenberger, C. W. Reiss and S. A. Strobel, Structures of two aptamers with differing ligand specificity reveal ruggedness in the functional landscape of RNA, eLife 7:e36381 (2018). PMCID: PMC6031431

C. W. Reiss and S. A. Strobel. Structural basis for ligand binding to the guanidine-II riboswitch. RNA, 23, 1338-1343 (2017). PMCID: PMC5558903