Kathleen Collins

Kathleen Collins is a Professor of Biochemistry at the University of California, Berkeley, affiliated with the Molecular and Cell Biology Department. Her research focuses on the biochemistry, biology, and biotechnology of eukaryotic retroelements and their reverse transcriptases. With over 25 years of research experience, her lab has explored telomerase, endogenous RNA silencing, non-coding RNAs, and RNP biogenesis, transitioning to study eukaryotic retroelements, non-LTR retrotransposon reverse transcriptases, and engineered reverse transcriptases for RNA sequencing and gene therapy. Her work is funded by an NIH Director's Pioneer Award, aiming to develop safe, site-specific transgene addition methods to the human genome.