NIH Director's Seminar Series: Harnessing Mechanistic Insights into microRNA Function for Cancer Therapy

As a class of small non-coding RNAs, microRNAs (miRNAs) function as master gene regulators. My laboratory studies how miRNAs themselves are regulated and their applications in cancer treatment. Despite the success of using miRNAs including their isoforms (isomiRs) as disease biomarkers, development of miRNA-based cancer treatments was somewhat lagging behind mainly due to the difficulty in identifying tumor-driver miRNA variations. In this talk, I will discuss our endeavor in addressing this challenge by investigating the mechanisms of miRNA biogenesis and function. I will demonstrate how the addition of sequences at their 3' ends ( “ tailing ” ) result in dramatic alterations to miRNA fate and function. By combining genetic studies with biochemical approaches, our work revealed that uridylation can modulate miRNA biogenesis and turnover as well as alter the way miRNAs recognize their targets. I will also talk about our recent endeavor in characterizing genetic variants of miRNA biogenesis enzymes associated with certain pediatric cancers. Our findings will provide new targets for treating cancers with RNA-based therapeutics.Air date: 4/12/2024 12:00:00 PM
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