Hello Nature Network!

I’m using my first post here to introduce myself. I am Steve Mount , a geneticist in the department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics and the Center for Bioinformatics at the University of Maryland. I am interested in the nature of genetic information, especially that which determines how eukaryotes correctly process RNA transcripts into messenger RNA.

I got my Ph.D. at Yale, working with Joan Steitz at a time when her laboratory was making very exciting discoveries about snRNAs and splicing. I then learned molecular genetics while a postdoc at Berkeley with Gerry Rubin. My first faculty position was at Columbia and I have been at the University of Maryland since 1995.

My research involves both identifying the elements of primary sequence information that determine where (and whether or not) splicing will occur and determining which cellular components play especially salient roles in recognizing those signals. My scientific career coincides with genomics (the first complete genome, phiX174 , was published the year that I first worked in a laboratory), and I am drawn to genomes. In my research, I use comparative genomics to explore both splicing signals and splicing factors.

Most of my research exploits genetic tools in the model eukaryote Arabidopsis thaliana to directly investigate what sequences function as exonic splicing enhancers (or silencers), and the effect of mutations in SR protein splicing factors on phenotypes and global alternative splicing. You can read about my research on my web site .

What should you expect from this blog? To be honest, I can’t say. I’ve been experimenting a bit with blogs. Initially, I had one (Steve’s View ), but decided that comments on genomics did not mix well with vacation photos and consumer complaints, so I created On Genetics . I later created “Quick Notes on Genetics” and “News on Genetics” with the idea of separating quick reactions to the literature from more substantive commentary, but I later abandoned those (largely, because they are redundant with what I can do on Connotea ). My point is that what works for me can be hard to predict. I hope to become a frequent blogger here (weekly, or more often), but I’m not going to just post a pointer to articles that everyone on Nature Network has already heard about.

On the personal side, I am married to Janet Chernela , a cultural Anthropologist who is also at the University of Maryland. I play go and I practice intermittent fasting .

You will learn more by coming back here .