Kristine O'Brien

University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School

Papers

Total Citations

200

H-Index

About

Kristine O'Brien is a cell and molecular biologist whose research centers on the mechanisms of pre-mRNA splicing and the development of small-molecule tools to probe gene expression. Her most influential work, "The Biflavonoid Isoginkgetin Is a General Inhibitor of Pre-mRNA Splicing" (2008), has garnered over 200 citations and established isoginkgetin as a critical, reversible inhibitor for studying spliceosome dynamics. This discovery addressed a significant gap in the field, as few compounds existed to specifically block splicing compared to other gene expression steps. O'Brien's contributions have provided researchers with a powerful chemical probe to dissect splicing regulation in both normal and disease contexts, enabling biochemical and structural studies that were previously difficult. Her work is notable for bridging natural product chemistry and functional genomics, offering a tool that has been widely adopted by laboratories investigating RNA processing. Through this achievement, O'Brien has advanced our understanding of how splicing inhibitors can be leveraged to explore fundamental cellular processes and potential therapeutic targets.