#  2025 Prather Lecture Series: Feng Zhang 

 



####  calendar\_today Date and Time 

 **April 3, 2025** 

 12:00PM - 01:00PM EDT 

####  pin\_drop Location 

 **Northwest Building, B103, 52 Oxford Street**  



 

 



 

   ![Feng Zhang- 2025 Prather Lecturer](/sites/g/files/omnuum6811/files/styles/hwp_1_1__360x360_scale/public/2025-03/Feng%20Zhang%20crop.jpeg?itok=4OgWKdMn) 

 

[Dr. Feng Zhang](https://www.zlab.bio/)   
Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute  
Core Member, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard  
Investigator, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT  
James and Patricia Poitras Professor in Neuroscience, MIT  
Departments of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Biological Engineering, MIT

[*Programmable Nucleic Acid Recognition*](https://www.oeb.harvard.edu/prather-lecture-series)

**Abstract:** To read and write their genomes and transcriptomes, or those of their hosts, organisms rely on systems that can recognize specific nucleic acid patterns. Although some of these systems are hard-coded to recognize a single motif, there are some systems that can be programmed to recognize different sequences. These include modular proteins in which blocks of amino acid repeats are combined to recognize specific sequence motifs and RNA-guided systems in which a single protein (or complexes of proteins) interacts with the target sequence by varying the RNA guide. In this talk, Zhang will discuss the natural diversity of these systems and their development into biotechnologies for modifying and modulating the genome and transcriptome, as well as highlight how they are being used as therapeutics.

Co-sponsored by The Departments of Molecular and Cellular Biology and Organismic and Evolutionary Biology



 

 



 

 See also:- [ Prather Lecture Series ](/event-type/prather-lecture-series)
 
 

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