Projects
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RNA post-transcriptional modifications. RNA modifications are implicated in cancer propagation, neurodegeneration, autism, viral infections, antibiotic resistance, crop resistance to drought, and crop yield. Our group has been a pioneer in developing novel techniques for detection of RNA modifications at a high throughput and single nucleotide manner. For the detection of RNA modifications, we use Illumina and Oxford Nanopore next generation sequencing. Our research has the potential to transform fields such as disease treatment and prevention, agriculture, and synthetic biology. |
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| DEAD-box protein RNA helicases and ribosome assembly. Escherichia coli (E.coli) DEAD-box protein DbpA, the human DEAD-box proteins DDX1 and DDX3X, are all implicated in ribosome assembly. We aim to investigate how the ATP hydrolysis and the RNA unwinding activity of these enzymes are regulated in the cell and the coupling of the ATP hydrolysis and their precise molecular role in the ribosome maturation process. The techniques we employ to investigate the DbpA, DDX1 and DDX3X proteins’ cellular functions and the regulations of these functions involve mass spectrometry, RNA chemical modifications combined with next generation sequencing and CLIP. |
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| Novel ribosome assembly maturation factors. We employ mass spectrometry combined with gene knockout to identify novel ribosome maturation factors in E.coli. A combination of structural and biochemical techniques is employed to determine the precise step or event of the ribosome assembly process the maturation factors modulates. |
