Olke C. Uhlenbeck is a biochemist presently at Northwestern University. He was elected to the United States National Academy of Sciences in 1993 and has published over 200 peer-reviewed articles. His research group has led to many breakthroughs in RNA biochemistry, most notably the enzymatic synthesis of RNAs from synthetic DNA templates using T7 RNA polymerase. Olke was a founding member of the RNA society.
As a graduate student in Paul Doty's lab, Olke showed that the anticodon of tRNA was accessible to hybridization to oligonucleotides. Later, as a Miller Research Fellow in Ignacio Tinoco, Jr.'s lab he helped define an original model for RNA secondary structure prediction.
Olke is a longstanding contributor to RNA biochemistry. His group has shown many important findings as well as developed important tools for RNA biochemists. Notable contributions include:
Walker, G. C.; Uhlenbeck, OC; Bedows, E; Gumport, RI (1975). "T4-Induced RNA Ligase Joins Single-Stranded Oligoribonucleotides". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 72 (1): 122–6. Bibcode:1975PNAS...72..122W. PMC 432253 . PMID 1090929. doi:10.1073/pnas.72.1.122.
England, Thomas E.; Uhlenbeck, Olke C. (1978). "3′-Terminal labelling of RNA with T4 RNA ligase". Nature. 275 (5680): 560–1. Bibcode:1978Natur.275..560E. PMID 692735. doi:10.1038/275560a0.
Milligan, John F.; Groebe, Duncan R.; Witherell, Gary W.; Uhlenbeck, Olke C. (1987). "Oligoribonucleotide synthesis using T7 RNA polymerase and synthetic DNA templates". Nucleic Acids Research. 15 (21): 8783–98. PMC 306405 . PMID 3684574. doi:10.1093/nar/15.21.8783.
Milligan, John F.; Groebe, Duncan R.; Witherell, Gary W.; Uhlenbeck, Olke C. (1987). "Oligoribonucleotide synthesis using T7 RNA polymerase and synthetic DNA templates". Nucleic Acids Research. 15 (21): 8783–98. PMC 306405 . PMID 3684574. doi:10.1093/nar/15.21.8783.
Hertel, Klemens J.; Herschlag, Daniel; Uhlenbeck, Olke C. (1994). "A Kinetic and Thermodynamic Framework for the Hammerhead Ribozyme Reaction". Biochemistry. 33 (11): 3374–85. PMID 8136375. doi:10.1021/bi00177a031.
Johansson, H. E. (1998). "A thermodynamic analysis of the sequence-specific binding of RNA by bacteriophage MS2 coat protein". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 95: 9244–9. Bibcode:1998PNAS...95.9244J. doi:10.1073/pnas.95.16.9244.
Sampson, J. R. (1988). "Biochemical and Physical Characterization of an Unmodified Yeast Phenylalanine Transfer RNA Transcribed in vitro". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 85: 1033–7. Bibcode:1988PNAS...85.1033S. JSTOR 30928. doi:10.1073/pnas.85.4.1033.
Sampson, JR; Direnzo, A.; Behlen, L.; Uhlenbeck, O. (1989). "Nucleotides in yeast tRNAPhe required for the specific recognition by its cognate synthetase". Science. 243 (4896): 1363–6. Bibcode:1989Sci...243.1363S. PMID 2646717. doi:10.1126/science.2646717.
Lariviere, F. J.; Wolfson, AD; Uhlenbeck, OC (2001). "Uniform Binding of Aminoacyl-tRNAs to Elongation Factor Tu by Thermodynamic Compensation". Science. 294 (5540): 165–8. Bibcode:2001Sci...294..165L. PMID 11588263. doi:10.1126/science.1064242.
