Mariel Vázquez

Research Interests

Mariel was a mathematical and computational biologist whose research lay at the interface of molecular biology, mathematics, computer science and polymer physics. She specialized in the application of topological tools and discrete methods to study DNA, RNA and their interactions with proteins. Her work focused on three primary areas of inquiry: (1) DNA topology, including the packing of chromosomes in human cells and viral capsids, and the mechanisms of site-specific recombinases and topoisomerases as they relate to DNA knotting and interlinking; (2) the evolution and dynamics of coronaviruses, using bioinformatics, biophysical models and topological data analysis to study viral evolution, with an emphasis on identifying complex chromosomal rearrangements; and (3) the structure and formation of R-loops, combining experimental and quantitative methods to investigate the formation and three-dimensional structure of R-loops and other triple helices.