Luciano Marraffini, Ph.D., professor and head, Laboratory of Bacteriology, The Rockefeller University; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

CRISPR-Cas systems protect prokaryotes using RNA-guided nucleases that locate and destroy target sequences within plasmid and viral invaders, a property that has been repurposed for the development of widespread and revolutionary genome editing technologies. These technologies rely on the RNA-guided nuclease Cas9, which belongs to the simplest CRISPR-Cas system. However, prokaryotes carry many different and more complex CRISPR-Cas loci. Dr. Marraffini will discuss the most elaborate one, the Cas10 nuclease, to exemplify the tremendous diversity and mechanistic richness of these immune systems in the prokaryotic world.

A native of Argentina, Dr. Marraffini received his undergraduate degree from the University of Rosario in Argentina and his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 2007. He was a postdoc at Northwestern University and joined Rockefeller as assistant professor in 2010, became associate professor in 2016, and in 2018 was promoted to full professor and that same year was also named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator. Dr. Marraffini has received numerous awards including an NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, an Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research, an Earl and Thressa Stadtman Scholar Award, a Hans Sigrist Prize, an NIH Director’s New Innovator Award, and an RNA Society Award. He has also been named a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Faculty Scholar, a Rita Allen Foundation Scholar, a Searle Scholar, and Cell once named him one of its “40 Under 40.”