JAX wins NIGMS funding to decipher role of RNA structure in gene regulation

With new funding from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences totaling $2,059,618 over five years, JAX Assistant Professor Zhengqing Ouyang, Ph.D., will build a research program to reveal the roles of RNA structure in post-transcriptional regulation at the genome scale.

"New approaches are unveiling the higher-order structure of RNA", Ouyang says, "Deciphering the roles of RNA structure will provide important new insights into health and diseases."

The ultimate goal, he says, "is to provide a precise genomic blueprint for clinical diagnoses and prognoses, as well as develop new and more effective therapies for cancer and other diseases."

Ouyang's laboratory innovates statistical methodologies to uncover genome regulatory code. His lab has developed computational tools to reveal chromatin conformation, RNA structure, and regulatory network.

With the new funding, Ouyang will establish a new path to understanding genome-wide regulation of gene expression. A comprehensive regulatory landscape is key to elucidating the development process and its disruption.