Abstract
Prior to the speaker’s research, no example of reversible chemical modifications on RNA that could affect gene expression had been shown. His research discovered the first two RNA demethylases: FTO, a protein associated with human fat mass obesity and development, and ALKBH5, a protein that affects spermatogenesis in a mouse model. These two proteins catalyze oxidative demethylation of the most prevalent internal modifications of mammalian messenger RNA (mRNA) and other nuclear RNA, N6-methyladenosine (m6A). These results indicate that reversible RNA modification could impact biological regulation analogous to the well-known reversible DNA and histone chemical modifications. He has also identified and characterized proteins that can selectively recognize m6A-modified mRNA and affect the translation status, lifetime, nuclear export, and localization of the target mRNA, as well as molecular machines that deposit the m6A methylation on nuclear RNA. This mRNA methylation appears to be a mark for fast track of target mRNA. His discoveries indicate the presence of a new mode of post-transcriptional gene regulation that depends on dynamic/reversible RNA modifications.
About the speaker
Prof Chuan He obtained his PhD from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000. He then joined Harvard University as Postdoctoral Fellow and moved to The University of Chicago in 2002. He is currently the John T. Wilson Distinguished Service Professor in The University of Chicago. He was also appointed as Investigator at Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 2014.
Prof He’s research currently spans a broad range of chemical biology, nucleic acid chemistry and biology, epigenetics, cell biology, bioinorganic chemistry, structural biology, microbiology, and genomics. He studies virulence and antibiotic resistance regulation in human pathogens. He also studies metal ion homeostasis and selective metal ion recognition by naturally occurring and engineered proteins.
Prof He received numerous awards including the CAREER Award by the US National Science Foundation (2005); the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigator in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease Award (2008); the American Chemical Society Akron Section Award (2010); the Mr and Mrs Sun Chan Memorial Award in Organic Chemistry (2012); and the Arthur C. Cope Scholar Award (2015). He was also elected a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2015.
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