معرفی
Dan Fabris is the Harold S. Schwenk Sr. Distinguished Chair in Chemistry Education at the University of Connecticut's Department of Chemistry. He leads an active research laboratory focused on nucleic acids and their role in infectious diseases. His lab joined UConn in January 2020 and has been steadily growing with multiple new members joining through 2024.
Dr. Fabris received his Ph.D. from the University of Padova (Italy) and completed postdoctoral training at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and at the National Research Council in Padova, Italy. His research program investigates structure-function relationships in nucleic acids and protein-nucleic acid complexes that play determinant roles in infectious diseases, with an overarching goal to identify therapeutic targets for HIV, hepatitis C, Zika, and other RNA viruses.
His research interests span across nucleic acid biochemistry, virology, and drug discovery. Dr. Fabris employs a cross-disciplinary approach that combines biophysical, biochemical, computational, and omics techniques with novel mass spectrometry technologies developed in his laboratory. His work particularly focuses on regulatory mechanisms of viral processes involving RNA post-transcriptional modifications (PTMs) and their role in mediating the potentiating effects of drugs of abuse on HIV-1 replication.
Analysis of Dr. Fabris's recent publications reveals a consistent focus on RNA structure and function, particularly in the context of HIV. His work leverages mass spectrometry techniques to investigate RNA-protein interactions, with special emphasis on TAR RNA and the HIV-1 nucleocapsid protein. His research spans from fundamental structural studies to applied drug discovery, with multiple publications on small molecule inhibitors targeting viral RNA elements.
- UConn Waring Award (awarded to Daniele Rollo, a student in his lab)
- UConn Masterton-Hurley Teaching Award (awarded to Sarah Mutchek, a teaching assistant in his lab)
- Patent awarded to Dan Fabris and lab alumni Rebecca Rose
Dr. Fabris actively mentors numerous graduate students and researchers. His lab has welcomed multiple new members in recent years, including Rumbie Chitongo, Joshua Albarracin, Hein Htet, Sienna Brigance, Margrate Anyanwu, Sofia Pezzotti, Alexander Steinberg, Michael Addo, Derek Bobowick, Cole Angell, and Sabrina Daigle. Several of his former students have successfully defended their dissertations (Thomas Kenderdine, Limin Deng) and moved on to positions at Yale School of Medicine (Jyotsna Kumar, Swapna Naik) and Pfizer (Ghazaleh Yassaghi). The lab is equipped with advanced instrumentation including an FT-ICR mass spectrometer delivered in October 2020.
