David posing next to a statue of a monk holding a plate of donuts

David with his new BFF

 

 David Costantino

David.Costantino@cuanschutz.edu

"In my role as lab manager I am responsible for much of the day to day operation, but I also get to do research, which is the main reason I am so excited ​to be part of this g​roup. When people ask me what I do for a living, I tell them I can save the crickets, and that is always a great way to introduce what we study in our lab."

David likes donuts…with sprinkles. He also plays tennis, eats BBQ and Italian food, loves baseball, plays poker, goes to lots of hockey games, and teaches chess to school kids and adults. Scouting reports describe him as a fantasy sport force to be reckoned with whenever he steps on the field.

 
Black cat sitting next to a jack o' lantern

Leon doing Halloween things

 Publications in the Kieft Lab

  1. Steckelberg A.L., Vicens, Q., Costantino, D.A., Nix, J.C., Kieft, J.S. (2020) The crystal structure of a Polerovirus exoribonuclease-resistant RNA shows how diverse sequences are integrated into a conserved fold. RNA 26(12), 1767-1776.

  2. Yesselman, J.D., Eiler, D., Carlson, E.D., Gotrik M.R., d’Aquino, A.E., Ooms, A.N., Kladwang, W., Carlson, P.D., Shi, X., Costantino, D.A., Herschlag, D., Lucks, J.B., Jewett, M.C., Kieft, J.S., Das, R. (2019) Computational design of three-dimensional RNA structure and function. Nat Nanotechnol. 14(9), 866-873.

  3. Hartwick, E.W., Costantino, D.A., MacFadden, A., Nix, J.C., Tian, S., Das, R., Kieft, J.S. (2018) Ribosome-induced RNA conformational changes in a viral 3’-UTR sense and regulate translation. Nat Commun 9(5074), 1-12.

  4. Steckelberg, A-L., Akiyama, B.M., Costantino, D.A., Sit, T.L., Nix, J.C., Kieft, J.S. (2018) A folded viral noncoding RNA blocks host cell exoribonucleases through a conformationally dynamic RNA structure. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 115(25), 6404-6409.

  5. Akiyama, B.M., Laurence, H.M., Massey, A.R., Costantino, D.A., Xie, X., Yang, Y., Shi, P.Y., Nix, J.C., Beckham, J.D., Kieft, J.S. (2016) Zika virus produces noncoding RNAs using a multi-pseudoknot structure that confounds a cellular exonuclease. Science 354, 1148-1152.

  6. Colussi, T.M.*, Costantino, D.A.*, Zhu, J., Donohue, J.P., Korostelev, A.A., Jaafar, Z.A., Plank, T.D., Noller, H.F., Kieft, J.S. (2015) Initiation of translation in bacteria by a structured eukaryotic IRES RNA. Nature 519(7541), 110-113.

  7. Colussi, T.M., Costantino, D.A., Hammond, J.A., Ruehle, G.M., Nix, J.C., Kieft, J.S. (2014) The structural basis of transfer RNA mimicry and conformational plasticity by a viral RNA. Nature 511(7509), 366-369.

  8. Chapman, E.G., Costantino, D.A., Rabe, J.L., Moon, S.L., Wilusz, J., Kieft, J.S. (2014) The structural basis of pathogenic subgenomic flavivirus RNA (sfRNA) production. Science 344, 307-310.

  9. Zhu, J., Korostelev, A., Costantino, D.A., Donohue, J.P., Noller, H.F., Kieft, J.S. (2011) Crystal structures of complexes containing domains from two viral internal ribosome entry site (IRES) RNAs bound to the 70S ribosome. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 108(5), 1839-1844.

  10. Kieft, J.S., Chase, E., Costantino, D.A., Golden, B.L. (2010) Identification and characterization of anion binding sites in RNA. RNA16, 1118-1123.

  11. Costantino, D.A., Pfingsten, J.S., Rambo, R.P., & Kieft, J.S. (2008) tRNA-mRNA mimicry drives translation initiation from a viral IRES. Nat. Struct. Mol. Biol. 15, 57-64.

  12. Kieft, J.S., Costantino, D.A., Filbin, M.E., Hammond J., & Pfingsten, J.S. (2007) Structural methods for studying IRES function. In Methods in Enzymology 430, 333-371.

  13. Pfingsten, J.S., Costantino, D.A., & Kieft, J.S. (2007) Conservation and diversity among the three-dimensional folds of the Dicistroviridae intergenic region IRESes. J. Mol. Biol. 370, 356-369.

  14. Pfingsten, J.S., Costantino, D.A., & Kieft, J.S. (2006) Structural basis for ribosome recruitment and manipulation by a viral IRES. Science 314, 1450-1454.

  15. Costantino, D. & Kieft, J.S. (2005) A preformed compact ribosome-binding domain in the cricket paralysis-like virus IRES RNAs. RNA 11, 332-343.