Samie Jaffrey

Samie Jaffrey is a Professor at the Graduate School of Medical Sciences at Weill Cornell Medicine, where he leads groundbreaking research in RNA regulatory mechanisms and epitranscriptomics. His lab focuses on RNA modifications, RNA structure, and RNA-binding proteins, with applications in understanding neurological disorders, cancer, and developing RNA-based therapeutics.

• Education: Bachelor’s degree from MIT (1992), MD and PhD from Johns Hopkins University (1999).
• Affiliations: Department of Pharmacology, Neuroscience, Molecular Biology, and Tri-Institutional PhD Programs.

Research Interests:

• Epitranscriptomics and mRNA modifications (e.g., m⁶A, Cap2) in gene expression regulation.
• RNA aptamers (Spinach, Broccoli, Corn) for imaging and biosensing in living cells.
• RNA synthetic biology tools (Pepper aptamer, Tornado circularization technique).
• Role of RNA deregulation in neurological disorders (Fragile X syndrome), cancer, and autoimmune diseases.

Scientific Awards:

• John J. Abel Award (ASPET)
• Blavatnik Award for Young Scientists
• NIH Director’s Transformative R01 Award
• McKnight Technology Development Award
• Klingenstein Fellow in Neuroscience

Grants & Collaborations: NIH funding (R01, EUREKA), McKnight Foundation, and affiliations with cancer pharmacology and neurodevelopmental research programs.