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Center for RNA Biomedicine

Ann Arbor, MI

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News

Repurposing Prostate Cancer Drug for COVID-19

01/19/2021

In our September 2020 issue of RNA Translated, 2020 the year of the RNA virus, we presented how University of Michigan (U-M) Center for RNA Biomedicine’s scientists pivoted their research to address the COVID-19 pandemic. One of them is Dr. Chinnaiyan and his team of prostate cancer researchers who focused on two proteins that are involved in giving access to the virus into a host cell. The production of these two proteins is regulated by male hormones. With J. Sexton from the U-M Center for Drug Repurposing, the collaborators looked at repurposing well-known drugs used in prostate cancer to block a receptor for male hormone, and prevent the coronavirus from entering a host cell.

“We hope that these findings may partly explain why males have higher hospitalization and mortality rates than females, and also suggest that transcriptional inhibition of key host factors may have potential in preventing or treating COVID-19. A number of clinical trials in COVID-19 patients have been initiated with drugs that were previously used to treat prostate cancer,” says Dr. Chinnaiyan.

The results from the current study are published in the January 5, 2021, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.


Referenced article:

Targeting transcriptional regulation of SARS-CoV-2 entry factors ACE2 and TMPRSS2
Yuanyuan Qiao, Xiao-Ming Wang, Rahul Mannan, Sethuramasundaram Pitchiaya, Yuping Zhang, Jesse W. Wotring, Lanbo Xiao, Dan R. Robinson, Yi-Mi Wu, Jean Ching-Yi Tien, Xuhong Cao, Stephanie A. Simko, Ingrid J. Apel, Pushpinder Bawa, Steven Kregel, Sathiya P. Narayanan, Gregory Raskind, Stephanie J. Ellison, Abhijit Parolia, Sylvia Zelenka-Wang, Lisa McMurry, Fengyun Su, Rui Wang, Yunhui Cheng, Andrew D. Delekta, Zejie Mei, Carla D. Pretto, Shaomeng Wang, Rohit Mehra, Jonathan Z. Sexton, and Arul M. Chinnaiyan, PNAS January 5, 2021 118 (1) e2021450118; first published December 11, 2020; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2021450118

Filed Under: News

“The CRISPR Craze: Scientific Breakthroughs Come to the Prepared when Least Expected”

01/08/2021

The 2020 Nobel Prize of Chemistry recognizes Emmanuelle Charpentier, Max Planck Unit for the Science of Pathogens, Berlin, Germany, and Jennifer Doudna, University of California, Berkeley, USA, “for the development of a method for genome editing.”

Every year, the University of Michigan Complex Systems invites U-M faculty to comment about the Nobel Prizes awards. In this recorded lecture (37 min.), “The CRISPR Craze: Scientific Breakthroughs Come to the Prepared when Least Expected,” Nils Walter, Ph.D., Francis S. Collins Professor of Chemistry, Biophysics and Biological Chemistry, co-director of the University of Michigan Center for RNA Biomedicine, presents the history of the CRISPR discovery.

Starting in 1987 in Japan, CRISPR systems have been observed and studied independently and at times simultaneously by several research groups around the globe (Spain, France, The Netherlands, USA, Sweden, Austria, and Germany). This led the foundation for the 2012 breakthrough by Charpentier and Doudna to harness a CRISPR system (Cas-9) to cleave and modify DNA at specific sites. This genetic editing discovery is currently revolutionizing therapeutics and foundational research, while raising essential ethical questions.

Filed Under: News

Translating from dissertation to dream job: a nascent RNA career

01/03/2021

Only a couple of weeks after defending her Ph.D. thesis in November, Sarah Owen, a graduate student in Chemical Engineering in Dr. Sunitha Nagrath’s lab, landed her dream job. “It all went very fast,” she explained, “I had a seven-hour zoom interview on Thursday, and they offered me the job the following Monday!” In January 2021, Owen will join Seagen, a biomedical company that seeks to improve the lives of people with cancer through innovative targeted therapies. As a Process Scientist, she will develop novel ways to test and characterize drug compounds after their R&D phase, and before clinical trials.

Owen did her undergraduate studies at the University of Washington in Seattle and became particularly interested in drug delivery when a representative from Seagen came to visit and offer internships. That summer at Seagen, Owen discovered a culture of collaboration and comradery where she thrived. She describes Seagen as a place where everyone builds on each other’s success within a company that operates as one team. [Read more…] about Translating from dissertation to dream job: a nascent RNA career

Filed Under: News

The RNA Collaborative welcomes its 17th and 18th partners

12/17/2020


The RNA Collaborative Seminar Series is pleased to welcome its 17th and 18th partners, the Cambridge RNA Club (UK) and the Groupe de Recherche RNA (GDR RNA – France).

The Cambridge RNA Club is an informal seminar series bringing together the RNA community in Cambridge and surrounding areas. The GDR RNA aims to bring together French teams working on the targeting of RNA, its modifications and its use as a tool around three main themes: 1/ design and synthesis of tools: from small molecule RNA ligands to modified RNA oligonucleotides; 2/ study of interactions: development of biochemical and biophysical tools for the understanding of interaction mechanisms at the molecular and cellular level; and 3/ therapeutic applications: in vitro and in vivo models.

[Read more…] about The RNA Collaborative welcomes its 17th and 18th partners

Filed Under: News

How mRNA helped scientists create a COVID-19 vaccine in record time

12/11/2020

A Washington Post video (duration 6’16”) – December 8, 2020
How mRNA helped scientists create a COVID-19 vaccine in record time

Our RNA scientists, Alice Telesnitsky, Microbiology and Immunology, and Nils G. Walter, Chemistry, Biophysics & Biological Chemistry and co-director of the Center for RNA Biomedicine, explain how RNA research allows to save millions of lives with an RNA vaccine, and why it is possible to have a vaccine so quickly.

Filed Under: News, Press

A portion of noncoding RNA may play an essential role in protecting the integrity of the genome

11/24/2020

“Over the years, studies have found that more than 80% of the genome may be involved in transcription, or producing noncoding RNA,” said Andrzej Wierzbicki, a professor in the University of Michigan Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology. “So the dilemma was: Is all this noncoding RNA functional? Is it important for something? Or is it just noise of the process of transcription or an error of detection methods?”
Read Michigan News Blog

Paper cited:
Broad noncoding transcription suggests genome surveillance by RNA polymerase V, Masayuki Tsuzuki, Shriya Sethuraman, Adriana N. Coke, M. Hafiz Rothi, Alan P. Boyle, and Andrzej T. Wierzbicki, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, first published November 16, 2020; https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2014419117

Significance
Eukaryotic genomes are pervasively transcribed, yet most transcribed sequences lack conservation or known biological functions. We show that a specialized plant-specific RNA polymerase V broadly transcribes the Arabidopsis genome. We propose a model where Pol V transcription surveils the genome and is required to recognize and repress newly inserted or reactivated transposons. Our results indicate that pervasive transcription of nonconserved sequences may serve an essential role in maintenance of genome integrity.

Filed Under: News

Machine learning expands single-molecule analysis accuracy and accessibility

11/19/2020

The observation of single biomolecules in real-time is crucial for our understanding of the cellular biology that is assembled from these molecules, be they DNA, RNA or protein. The recent development of an array of tools and techniques for single-molecule analysis allows studies at an extremely small scale (nanometers, or 10-9 meters) over short periods of time (from a few milliseconds to a second).

However, until now, most of such observations required tedious and time-consuming manual data processing of thousands of single molecules.  A team of University of Michigan (U-M) Department of Chemistry and Department of Physics scientists, spearheaded by graduate students Jieming Li, now Ph.D. in Chemistry, and Leyou Zhang, now Ph.D. in Physics, developed a deep learning algorithm to analyze data emerging from a single molecule microscope. The results from this collaboration are published in Nature Communications (November 2020).

Illustration: Deep learning assisted single molecule fluorescence microscopy data analysis [Read more…] about Machine learning expands single-molecule analysis accuracy and accessibility

Filed Under: News

Sara Aton and Laura Scott join our Executive Committee

11/19/2020

The Center’s Executive Committee welcomes two new members, Sara Aton, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, College of LSA (left), and Laura Scott, Ph.D., Research Professor, Biostatistics, School of Public Health (right).

Read Sara Aton “Featured scientist” profile.

We thank again our Executive Committee former members for their important contributions to the Center’s leadership: Aaron Frank, Amanda Garner and Melanie Ohi.

The Executive Committee members meet monthly, volunteer their time and commitment to contribute to the Center’s numerous activities. They see their role as supporting the RNA research community at large. Supported by a 5-year Biosciences Initiative Award, they are currently involved with the hiring of an additional four new faculty, following the successful hiring of Stephanie Moon, Human Genetics. They also organize an annual RNA symposium and the Center’s biweekly RNA Innovation seminar series.

Filed Under: News

Analisa DiFeo, Ph.D., and Joshi Alumkal, M.D., join the U-M Center for RNA Biomedicine

10/30/2020

 
Welcome to our 2019–2020 new members, Dr. Analisa DiFeo, Ph.D., and Dr. Joshi Alumkal, M.D.!

In this video (5′ 28″), they present their main research topic, respectively on ovarian cancer and prostate cancer, as well as their motivation and interests in RNA research.

Filed Under: News

Rare disease collaboration receives NIH funding for a new Center for Fragile X disease

10/22/2020

An interview with Peter Todd, M.D, Ph.D., Neurology, Medical School, University of Michigan (U-M), and member of the Executive Committee of the U-M Center for RNA Biomedicine

Dr. Todd will serve as co-director of a Fragile X Center without walls with investigators at U-M, Baylor College of Medicine, and Emory University. This Fragile X Center is one of three recently funded by National Institutes of Health (NIH). Fragile X syndrome is the most common inherited form of intellectual and developmental disability (IDD), and the repeat that causes Fragile X Syndrome can also result in neurodegeneration and premature ovarian failure. The center will receive $9 million over the next 5 years.

“Rare diseases” are not rare
First off, rare diseases are not rare in aggregate- one in 10 (~30 Million) people in the US will suffer from a rare disease. Second, in many of these rare diseases, we have been able to define their genetic basis, and that has allowed us to model them effectively. This has led to targeted and effective therapies for a number of previously untreatable rare conditions. [Read more…] about Rare disease collaboration receives NIH funding for a new Center for Fragile X disease

Filed Under: News Tagged With: Fragile X, Peter Todd M.D Ph.D, rare disease, RNA sequence repeats

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