Phoebe Rice

Phoebe Rice is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Chicago. Her research focuses on the mechanisms of mobile genetic elements, particularly the SCCmec element in MRSA and the Mu transposase system, combining biochemistry, structural biology, and microbiology.

• Education and Training
  • BA in Biochemistry, Brandeis University (1986)
  • PhD in Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry, Yale University (1992)
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, NIH/NIDDK (1997)

Her work explores DNA recombination dynamics, protein-DNA interactions, and structural insights into transposase and recombinase activity. Recent publications highlight SCCmec mobility, serine integrase orthogonality, and CRISPR-guided gene insertion mechanisms.

Scientific Awards:

• Distinguished Educator in the Basic Sciences (2015)
• NSF Fellowship (1987)
• Gannett Newspaper Carrier Scholarship (1982-1986)

She serves as Principal Investigator on grants including Mechanisms of the Microbial Mobilome (NIH R35GM149586) and trains students through programs like IMSD and IRACDA. Her lab develops tools for synthetic biology and genome engineering based on mobile element machinery.