[1] While in the Szostak lab, Bartel isolated the first ribozymes directly from random sequence, using in vitro evolution (among these, the Class I ligase).
[5] MicroRNAs are short pieces of RNA, about 22 nucleotides long, that dampen gene expression through the silencing of messenger RNAs (mRNAs).
[13][16] Bartel also discovered several other types of regulatory RNAs, including heterochromatic siRNAs, which silence DNA instead of RNA.
[17] In addition, Bartel is investigating the roles of long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) and how the untranslated regions and tails of mRNAs recruit and mediate regulatory phenomena.
[5] Bartel is a founder and a scientific advisor of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a company started in 2002 to advance “RNAi (RNA interference) therapeutics as a new class of innovative medicines”.