RNA and Disease


Dr. David Bentley in his labThe RNA and Disease Group within the RNA Bioscience Initiative identifies and defines the contribution of RNA to disease, focusing on viral diseases, neurodegenerative and other hereditary disorders, developmental abnormalities, auto-immune diseases, and cancer.

The ways in which RNA can impact human disease are vast and complex. Research to date has only touched on the most accessible of these connections, but new technologies are rapidly expanding our knowledge in this area. The most immediate connection one makes when thinking about RNA and Disease is that of human-infective pathogenic RNA viruses, including influenza, measles, polio, hepatitis C, HIV, SARS-CoV-2, Ebola, and many, many others.

Nonetheless, because RNA plays an essential role in many cellular processes, disruption of RNA processing and maturation, e.g., errors in splicing, tRNA and rRNA maturation, and other aspects of RNA metabolism, also result in human disease. In addition, dysregulation of non-coding RNA-based regulatory networks that direct normal tissue development and homeostasis has been increasingly implicated in chronic illness and cancer.

Faculty Participants

FACULTYEMAILRESEARCH
Scott Alper, PhD[email protected]Regulation of alternative pre-mRNA splicing in the TLR pathway to limit inflammation
Tom Anchordoquy, PhD[email protected]Milk exosomes as a delivery mechanism for therapeutics (peptides, proteins, DNA, RNA)
Steven Anderson, PhD[email protected]Molecular basis of altered tumor metabolism
Bruce Appel, PhD[email protected]Molecular basis of white matter deficits in brain development and disease
David Barton, PhD[email protected]Investigation of host-pathogen interactions involving viral RNA and endoribonucleases
Richard Benninger, PhD[email protected]Islet dysfunction in Type1 and Type2 diabetes
David Bentley, PhD[email protected]Mechanisms by which mRNA production in cancer cells becomes corrupted by abnormal coupling of transcription with chromatin modification, splicing, and mRNA 3' end formation
Joshua Black, PhD[email protected]Genome instability, chromosomal structural aberrations, and copy number variation in cancer
Matthew Burchill, PhD[email protected]Characterization of altered transcriptional profiles in lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) in chronic liver disease
Eric Clambey, PhD[email protected]Investigation of non-coding RNAs in gammaherpesvirus infection
Adela Cota-Gomez, PhD[email protected]Molecular mechanisms of HIV-associated pulmonary arterial hypertension
Howard Davidson, PhD[email protected]Investigation of transcriptional and translational re-programming of beta cells in type 1A diabetes
Patricia Ernst, PhD[email protected]Dysregulation of transcriptional networks in leukemia
Katherine Fantauzzo, PhD[email protected]Characterization of how PDGFRalpha signaling regulates the activity of RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) to generate the protein isoforms necessary for craniofacial development
Megan Filbin, PhD[email protected]Structure-function analysis of viral RNA translation
Heide Ford, PhD[email protected]Molecular mechanisms of tumor metastasis; dysregulation of developmental transcription factors in tumor progression
Austin Gillen, PhD[email protected]RNA processing in cancer
Berenice Gitomer, PhD[email protected]miRNAs as biomarkers for kidney disease
Kirk Hansen, PhD[email protected]Molecular investigation of tissue remodeling in wound healing, aging, cancer and fibrotic diseases
Jay Hesselberth, PhD[email protected]Development of new molecular and computational methods to advance single-cell analysis, including approaches to measure biochemical activities, to understand molecular dissemination in vivo, and to improve the analysis of cell-type-specific gene expression patterns
Joan Hooper, PhD[email protected]MicroRNA profiling in craniofacial development
Elena Hsieh, MD[email protected]Molecular mechanisms of immune disorders, particularly systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), common variable immunodeficiency (CVID), chronic granulomatous disease (CGD), and others
Ethan Hughes, PhD[email protected]The effects of motor learning on cortical oligodendrogenesis in health and disease
Sujatha Jagannathan, PhD[email protected]mRNA surveillance in health and disease, particularly human muscular dystrophy
Aaron Johnson, PhD[email protected]Molecular mechanisms of RNA-mediated epigenetic gene regulation in normal biology and metastatic breast cancer   
Peter Kabos, MD[email protected]Regulation of anti-endocrine resistance of breast cancer by a network of non-coding RNAs
Melanie Koenigshoff, MD, PhD[email protected]Molecular mechanisms of distal lung epithelial stem cell impairment in COPD
Laurel Lenz, PhD[email protected]Molecular regulation of NK cell activity during bacterial infection
Hong Li, PhD[email protected]Molecular mechanisms of aberrant craniofacial development
Traci Lyons, PhD[email protected]Mechanisms of therapeutic resistance and metastasis driven by pregnancy induced changes in gene and protein expression during mammary gland development 
Martin McCarter, MD[email protected]Molecular characterization of tumor infiltrating myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSCs) in human melanoma
Michael McMurray, PhD[email protected]Defining the maternal contribution of RNAs in yeast gametes
Tem Morrison, PhD[email protected]Molecular pathogenesis of mosquito-transmitted RNA viruses
Christian Mosimann, PhD[email protected]Cell fate control in development and disease
Kathryn Mouzakis, PhD[email protected]The effect of programmed ribosomal frameshift in viral infection and disease
Neelanjan Mukherjee, PhD[email protected]Mechanisms by which RNA binding proteins (RBPs) and long non-coding RNA (lncRNAs) regulate human steroid production
James  Nichols, PhD[email protected]Transcriptomic comparisons of zebrafish mef2ca mutants to determine the role of this transcription factor in development
Lee Niswander, PhD[email protected]lncRNAs in development
Eva Nozik, MD[email protected]Molecular mechanisms of redox regulation of alveolar macrophage populations in acute lung injury
Chad Pearson, PhD[email protected]Identifying centriolar RNAs in fundamental centrosomal processes and human disease
Eric Pietras, PhD[email protected]RNA splicing alterations in myelodysplasia
Rytis Prekeris, PhD[email protected]Molecular regulation of breast cancer metastasis
Tania Reis, PhD[email protected]Regulation of fat storage by conserved RNA-binding proteins Spen and Nito in obesity
Marino Resendiz, PhD[email protected]Disease as a function of oxidative damage to non-coding RNAs
Diego Restrepo, PhD[email protected]Differential expression of olfactory receptors for semiochemical detection 
Jennifer Richer, PhD[email protected]Investigation of non-coding RNAs that control oncogenic epithelial to mesenchymal transition and facilitate tumor metastasis
Olivia Rissland, PhD[email protected]COVID genomic sequencing and tracking
Mario Santiago, PhD[email protected]Interplay between innate retroviral restriction and adaptive immunity, with a conceptual focus on HIV vaccine development
Stephen Santoro, PhD[email protected]Molecular mechanisms of neural plasticity in development and disease
Carol Sartorius, PhD[email protected]Modulation of RNA polymerase III in breast cancer via progesterone receptors
Rebecca Schweppe, PhD[email protected]Molecular regulation of kinase pathways in thyroid cancer
Yiqun Shellman, PhD[email protected]MicroRNA-26a in melanoma 
Matthew Sikora, PhD[email protected]Molecular mechanisms controlling the unique ER transcriptome in invasive lobular carcinoma
Lori Sussel, PhD[email protected]Non-coding RNAs as regulators of islet development and function in health and disease
Matthew Taliaferro, PhD[email protected]Dysregulation of mRNA trafficking and localization in neurological disease
Beth Tamburini, PhD[email protected]Mechanisms of antigen archiving following vaccination via RNA-based molecular tracking
Matt Taylor, MD, PhD[email protected]Molecular investigation of inherited cardiomyopathies
Linda van Dyk, PhD[email protected]Characterization of non-coding RNAs that regulate the innate immune response in virus infection and disease
M. Natalia Vergara, PhD[email protected]Unraveling the molecular basis of retinal abnormalities in Down syndrome
Rajeev Vibhakar, MD, PhD[email protected]Molecular characterization of pediatric brain and spinal cord tumors, including glioma, medulloblastoma, and atypical teratoid rhabdoid tumors 
Quentin Vicens, PhD[email protected]Viral RNA structure
Beat Vogeli, PhD[email protected]Role of non-coding RNAs in bacterial virulence
Mary Weiser-Evans, PhD[email protected]Modulation of vascular smooth muscle cells using siRNA to mimic cardiac injury
Rui Zhao, PhD[email protected]Dysregulation of the Six1/Eya transcriptional complex in breast and other cancers
Han Zhu, PhD[email protected]Cis-regulatory mechanisms of RNA expression during pancreatic β-cell development in a human stem cell–derived organoid model
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