Silvi Rouskin

Dr. Silvi Rouskin serves as Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology at Harvard Medical School (Harvard University), where she leads groundbreaking research on RNA structural biology. Her work bridges computational biology, biochemistry, and single-molecule modeling to decode RNA's role in cellular processes and disease mechanisms.

Her primary research focuses on RNA structure formation and its impact on gene regulation, alternative splicing, and viral pathogenesis. By pioneering tools like DMS-MaPseq and the DREEM algorithm, her lab detects multiple RNA conformations at single-nucleotide resolution in living cells. Current investigations target human, bacterial, and viral RNA structures to develop machine-learning prediction models for therapeutic applications in cancer and infectious diseases.

Dr. Rouskin's publication record centers on RNA structural dynamics, exemplified by her 2020 HIV study revealing how alternative RNA configurations regulate viral gene activity. This work underpins her broader mission to build a comprehensive RNA structure database for accelerating drug target discovery.

Her scientific accolades include:

• Pew Biomedical Scholar (2024)
• Vilcek Prize for Creative Promise in Biomedical Science (2021)

Dr. Rouskin actively mentors the next generation of scientists, having guided at least one PhD candidate (Phil) to completion. Her lab currently supports undergraduate researchers including Tammy and Stuti (studying tau alternative splicing) and Sherry (investigating SMN1/SMN2 structures), reflecting her commitment to hands-on training in RNA biology.

The Rouskin Lab operates at the Harvard Medical School campus (77 Avenue Louis Pasteur, NRB 930, Boston), combining wet-lab experimentation with computational innovation to advance structural RNA biology.