Awarded in 2026
Home Department: Genetics
Faculty Advisors: Andrew Fire (Pathology and Genetics), Stephen Montgomery (Pathology, Genetics, and Biomedical Data Science), Nicole Martinez (Chemical & Systems Biology and Developmental Biology), and Jin Billy Li (Genetics)

Research Title: Searching for DragonRNAs in Cells

DragonRNAs are unusual tandem DNA → RNA chimeras. DragonRNAs have been demonstrated as vaccine adjuvants, and we can produce them in test tubes, but we don’t know if they exist in nature. Here Haim and the Fire lab will develop tools to find them, explore their roles, and leverage their unique structure for technological improvement.