After receiving her Ph.D. in condensed matter physics from MIT, Pollack came to Cornell to work with the Low Temperature Physics group. She was a Postdoctoral Associate (1989-1991) and a Research Associate (1991-1997) in the Microkelvin Laboratory. In 1997, with support from the NSF and the LASSP Biophysics Group, she changed the focus of her research program to Biophysics. In 1999 she became Senior Research Associate in LASSP. She joined the faculty in Applied and Engineering Physics in 2000. Her research focuses on developing and applying physics-based tools to gain insight into outstanding problems in molecular biology. She received the Swanson Excellence in Teaching Award in 2003, and the Chau Excellence in Teaching Award in 2012.
Pollack's research program has two distinct themes. The first theme is instrumentation: the development of experimental tools that enable novel, time-resolved studies of proteins, DNA or RNA. By coupling microfluidics with light (either x-rays or lasers), our group has developed and applied tools that report dynamic shape changes as these large molecules assume ('fold' to) their biologically active states.
The second theme is a tight research focus on electrostatic interactions in RNA and DNA. The large negative charge carried by these nucleic acids significantly impacts their structure and function. This topic is timely, as recognition of RNA's central role in the cell continues to increase at an astonishing rate.
