Andrew Santiago-Frangos, Ph.D.
M. Jane Williams and Valerie Vargo Presidential Assistant Professor of Biology
asantia3@sas.upenn.edu
Education:
- B.Sc. with Year in Industry, Biochemistry, University of Leicester (UK), 2012
- Ph.D., Cell, Molecular, Developmental Biology, and Biophysics Program, Johns Hopkins University, 2018
- Post-Doc, Montana State University, 2023
Research Interests
The Santiago-Frangos lab integrates bioinformatics, biochemistry, and structural biology to address complex biological and biotechnological questions. Our mission is to determine how: i) bacterial and archaeal CRISPR adaptive immune systems make DNA-based memories of past phage infections, and ii) how CRISPR-generated nucleotide messengers signal an immune response. We’ll repurpose these mechanistic insights to develop medical and biotech applications.
Keywords: CRISPR-Cas, Integration, Transposition, Reverse Transcription, Signaling Cascade, Diagnostics