Focus

Non-coding RNA Function during Neural Development, Degeneration, and Regeneration

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Research

The focus of research in our laboratory is to elucidate how neurons establish individual identity in the developing nervous system and why only specific neuron subtypes are vulnerable to neurodegenerative diseases. We tackle these questions by studying non-coding RNAs and their roles in motor neuron generation and degeneration. "DNA→RNA→Protein" is the central dogma of molecular biology, in which RNA is served as a temporary template from interpreting genetic information to functional proteins. Surprisingly, new sequencing technology of mammalian transcriptomes has revealed that more than 50% of RNA transcripts do not possess protein-coding elements, thus termed as non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). Although ncRNAs have been drawing increasing attention in recent years, the functions of most non-coding RNAs are still undefined. This is mainly due to the lack of a powerful method to test their roles in a given cell type systematically. There are two major classes of regulatory non-coding RNAs: 1) small RNAs such as microRNAs (miRNAs) that are participated in the repression and fine-tuning of protein expression and 2) less well apprehended long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) that are mainly shown to act as mediators for epigenome regulation. As the developing spinal cord is arguably the best-characterized developmental process in the embryonic central nervous system, our laboratory uses embryonic stem (ES) cells as a tool to systematically study ncRNA functions during motor neuron differentiation. We focus on three major questions:

  • miRNA and patterning in the developing spinal cord.
  • ncRNAs and motor neuron subtype generation and degeneration.
  • Apply ncRNAs to differentiate motor neuron subtypes from ES cells.
LAb News

News

  • 2023.12.20 Lab Retreat in HuaLien