Research Projects
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Nonsense-Mediated mRNA Decay (NMD)
NMD is a splicing-dependent and translation-dependent pathway that targets not only disease-associated but also naturally occurring transcripts. Many of the naturally occurring transcripts are mistakes made during alternative splicing. Currently, we are interested in further characterizing the pioneer round of translation, during which nonsense codon recognition leads to NMD. More info...
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Staufen1(STAU1)-mediated mRNA decay (SMD)
A related mRNA decay pathway that we have named Staufen1(STAU1)-mediated mRNA decay. We have found that STAU1, which is a double-stranded RNA binding protein, recruits the NMD factor UPF1 to certain mRNA 3'-untranslated regions (3'UTRs) so as to elicit SMD in a translation-dependent fashion. Using microarray analyses, we have identified a number of mRNAs that are naturally down-regulated by SMD. More info...
