Welcome to the Lawson Lab!
Located in the Chemistry and Biochemistry department at UCLA, we study eukaryotic translational quality control using a variety of biochemical and biophysical techniques. We are focused on understanding the mechanisms used by eukaryotic ribosomes and specialized decay factors to evaluate messenger RNAs (mRNAs) during translation and preferentially shunt defective mRNAs for decay.
Recent Publications
Lawson MR*, Lessen LN*, Wang J, Prabhakar A, Corsepius NC, Green R, Puglisi JD. Mechanisms that ensure speed and fidelity in eukaryotic translation termination. Science. 2021 Aug 20;373(6557):876-882.
* Denotes equal contribution
Lawson MR, Ma W, Bellecourt MJ, Artsimovitch I, Martin A, Landick R, Schulten K, Berger JM. Mechanism for the Regulated Control of Bacterial Transcription Termination by a Universal Adaptor Protein. Molecular Cell. 2018 Sep 20;71(6):911-922.
Structure of release factors bound to a stop codon-halted ribosome (Shao et al., Cell 2016). Large subunit shown in pink, small subunit in gray, eRF1 in green, and eRF3 in blue.
News & Events
Welcome to Chris George, Natalie Leon, Daniel Cohn, and Brooke Morales rotating with the lab this fall!
September 2025