Finkelstein studies how organisms maintain their genomic integrity, which has implications for cancer and how viruses like COVID-19 mutate. For COVID-19, these mutations have implications for severity of disease, speed of transmission and efficacy of vaccines and other therapies.

Genomic DNA acts as the blueprint for life and all organisms have evolved complex protein machines that faithfully maintain our genetic material. Genomic instability, which arises from defects in these proteins, is a defining feature of most cancers. Elucidating the mechanisms of DNA maintenance is therefore fundamental to our understanding of the molecular basis of many cancer types. Our interdisciplinary research program combines aspects of single-molecule biophysics, molecular biology and micro-/nano-scale engineering to understand how organisms are able to maintain their genomic integrity. To increase our understanding of this essential problem, we develop new techniques that allow us to directly observe, in real time, the key biochemical reactions as they occur on DNA.