# Jeffrey S. Kieft
**Jeffrey S. Kieft** (Jeffrey Kieft) is an RNA structural biologist and virologist who has served as Executive Director of the New York Structural Biology Center since May 2023.[1](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3718-1891) He is known for work on how structured viral RNAs, including internal ribosome entry site (IRES) RNAs, hijack the host translation machinery.[2](https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-virology-100422-031237)
| Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Current role | Executive Director, New York Structural Biology Center, since May 2023[1](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3718-1891) |
| Field | RNA structural biology and virology; viral IRES RNAs[4](https://www.kieftlab.org/jeffrey-kieft) |
| Training | BS, West Point (1990) |[5](https://researchfeatures.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Dr-Jeffrey-Kief-University-Colorado.pdf) • [4](https://www.kieftlab.org/jeffrey-kieft) • [3](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-kieft-ph-d-44247a192)
| Signature work | "Initiation of translation in bacteria by a structured eukaryotic IRES RNA", Nature, 2015[6](https://www.kieftlab.org/publications) |
| Current affiliations | Professor Adjoint, University of Colorado School of Medicine; Adjunct Professor, Columbia University[4](https://www.kieftlab.org/jeffrey-kieft) |
## Education and career
Kieft graduated in 1990 from the US Military Academy at West Point and served as an Army officer in Germany before entering science.[5](https://researchfeatures.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Dr-Jeffrey-Kief-University-Colorado.pdf) He then completed a doctoral degree at the [University of California](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-california), Berkeley between 1993 and 1997, working with Ignacio Tinoco; his laboratory page describes the degree as in Chemistry, while a CV-style profile lists it as [Biophysics](https://www.edgepedia.org/biophysics).[4](https://www.kieftlab.org/jeffrey-kieft) • [3](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-kieft-ph-d-44247a192)
In 2001 he received the [Roger Revelle](https://www.edgepedia.org/roger-revelle)/AAAS Fellowship in Global Stewardship and spent a year in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy.[5](https://researchfeatures.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Dr-Jeffrey-Kief-University-Colorado.pdf) In May 2023 he became Executive Director of the New York Structural Biology Center.[1](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3718-1891) He remains Professor Adjoint at Colorado and Adjunct Professor at Columbia, has chaired an NIH study section, and is a Director of the RNA Society.[4](https://www.kieftlab.org/jeffrey-kieft)
## Research on viral IRES RNAs
An internal ribosome entry site is an RNA structure that recruits a ribosome to start translation partway along a messenger RNA, without the 5' cap that ordinary cellular transcripts use. Kieft's laboratory showed that structural elements of the hepatitis C virus IRES interact with the ribosome to align the coding section correctly while depending on few protein factors.[5](https://researchfeatures.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Dr-Jeffrey-Kief-University-Colorado.pdf)
A second theme is molecular mimicry: some viral IRES RNAs fold into shapes that imitate transfer RNA. A crystal structure of a Dicistroviridae IRES domain showed the RNA precisely mimicking the tRNA anticodon–mRNA codon interaction; combined with an earlier structure, it completed the first high-resolution description of an IRES RNA.[7](https://www.nature.com/articles/nsmb1351)
His group also studies how viral RNAs manipulate cellular machines more broadly, using structural biology, biochemistry, biophysics, bioinformatics, and virology, with cryo-EM central to current work.[4](https://www.kieftlab.org/jeffrey-kieft) • [8](https://www.emsl.pnnl.gov/people/jeffrey-kieft)
## Representative work
**Initiation of translation in bacteria by a structured eukaryotic IRES RNA** (Nature, 2015) showed that a structured eukaryotic IRES RNA can drive translation initiation in bacterial ribosomes, demonstrating that an RNA architecture built for eukaryotic machinery can function across kingdoms.[6](https://www.kieftlab.org/publications)
Other major papers from the same research program include the 2014 [Nature](https://www.edgepedia.org/nature-journal) study on the structural basis of transfer RNA mimicry and conformational plasticity by a viral RNA, the 2021 Science paper showing a viral RNA hijacking host machinery through dynamic conformational changes of a tRNA-like structure, and a 2014 eLife paper showing that RNA structures that resist Xrn1 degradation produce a pathogenic Dengue virus RNA.[6](https://www.kieftlab.org/publications)
## Honors and funding
Kieft was selected as an HHMI Early Career Scientist in 2009, holding that appointment to 2015, according to his Kieft Lab biography.[4](https://www.kieftlab.org/jeffrey-kieft) • [3](https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-kieft-ph-d-44247a192) His NIH grants include R01GM081346 on the structural basis of protein synthesis by the hepatitis C virus IRES (2008–2017), R35GM118070 on the structure, function, and dynamics of viral RNAs and RNA-containing complexes (2016–2026), U24GM139171 for the National Center for In-situ Tomographic Ultramicroscopy (2020–2026), and co-principal investigator on R24GM154192, the National Center for CryoEM Access and Training (2024–2029).[9](https://profiles.ucdenver.edu/display/225090) He is also a Principal Investigator at the Department of Energy's Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory on a cryo-EM project on RNA structural diversity and conformational dynamics.[8](https://www.emsl.pnnl.gov/people/jeffrey-kieft)
## New York Structural Biology Center
The New York Structural Biology Center operates world-known NMR facilities, a cryoEM center, and an X-ray beamline, supported by grants from the [Simons Foundation](https://www.edgepedia.org/simons-foundation) and NIH center grants; its director's page describes it as a "Center of Centers".[10](https://nysbc.org/about-us/greetings-from-the-director/) As Executive Director since May 2023, Kieft leads this shared research facility.[1](https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3718-1891)
## Recent developments
The move to New York did not end the Colorado connection: Kieft remains affiliated faculty in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics at CU Anschutz, where his laboratory studies how viral RNAs interact with, control, and manipulate cellular machines.[11](https://medschool.cuanschutz.edu/biochemistry/people/affiliated-faculty/kieft-jeffrey) In February 2025, Cell Reports published a study in which his group used bioinformatics to identify new examples of viral reinitiation-stimulating RNAs and verified their structure and function; cryo-EM of a representative viral RNA–ribosome complex showed the RNA sampling a range of conformations while tethered to the ribosome, allowing the ribosome to find a reinitiation start site within a limited range of sequence.[12](https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2025.115236)
## References
1. Jeffrey Kieft (0000-0002-3718-1891), ORCID. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3718-1891
2. Conduits, Doppelgängers, and Chimeras: RNA Structures at the Virus-Host Interface, Annual Review of Virology. https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-virology-100422-031237
3. Jeffrey Kieft, LinkedIn profile. https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffrey-kieft-ph-d-44247a192
4. Jeffrey Kieft, Kieft Lab (biography). https://www.kieftlab.org/jeffrey-kieft
5. Learning from the best, Research Features. https://researchfeatures.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/Dr-Jeffrey-Kief-University-Colorado.pdf
6. Publications, Kieft Lab. https://www.kieftlab.org/publications
7. tRNA–mRNA mimicry drives translation initiation from a viral IRES, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology. https://www.nature.com/articles/nsmb1351
8. Jeffrey Kieft, Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory. https://www.emsl.pnnl.gov/people/jeffrey-kieft
9. Jeffrey Kieft, Colorado PROFILES. https://profiles.ucdenver.edu/display/225090
10. Greetings from the Director, NYSBC. https://nysbc.org/about-us/greetings-from-the-director/
11. Jeffrey S. Kieft, PhD, University of Colorado Anschutz. https://medschool.cuanschutz.edu/biochemistry/people/affiliated-faculty/kieft-jeffrey
12. A conserved class of viral RNA structure regulates translation reinitiation through dynamic ribosome interactions, Cell Reports, 2025. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2025.115236
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Life and health › Life and health scientists › Life scientists › Researchers in structural biology, biochemistry, and biophysics › Nucleic acids, RNA, and chromatin*
*Initially written Sep 21, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 25, 2026; Oct 11, 2026; Oct 15, 2026 · Last review: Sep 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license