Karin Musier-Forsyth

Karin Musier-Forsyth is the Ohio Eminent Scholar in Biological Macromolecular Structure and Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The Ohio State University. She holds affiliations with the College of Arts and Sciences and leads the KMF Lab, focusing on RNA-protein interactions in viral replication and translational fidelity. Her career includes roles at the University of Minnesota (1992-2007) and postdoctoral training at MIT (1989-1992) under Paul Schimmel after earning her Ph.D. from Cornell University (1989).

Research emphasizes HIV-1, HTLV-1, and SARS-CoV-2 mechanisms, including tRNA packaging, RNA chaperone activities, and aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase roles in genetic diseases. Key projects involve viral RNA structure-function relationships, translational quality control, and disease-linked mutations in aaRS enzymes.

She has published over 200 peer-reviewed works, edited Journal of Biological Chemistry (since 2018), and co-directed the NIH T32 Predoctoral Training Program since 2011. Awards include Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar (1996), AAAS Fellow (2009), and William H. Kadel Alumni Medal (2014).

Labs/Teams: KMF Lab at OSU explores retroviral biology, RNA-protein dynamics, and translational fidelity mechanisms with interdisciplinary biochemical and biophysical approaches.