Prof. Dr. Eric Westhof

Eric Westhof is distinguished for major contributions in nucleic acid stereochemistry and in the fields of structural biophysics and bioinformatics of RNA molecules. He has developed computer programs for nucleic acid crystallographic refinement and three-dimensional modelling. He produced with his collaborators the first all-atom tertiary models of large catalytic RNAs. The architectures of those complex assemblies were later conforted by independent X-ray structure analysis. His present research focuses on the relationships between sequence, structure, and molecular evolution of RNA. He is executive editor of the journals "RNA" and "Nucleic Acids Research".