Date | 15 Jan 2025 |
Time | 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm (HKT) |
Venue | Rayson Huang Theatre, Main Campus, HKU |
Speaker | Prof. Chuan HE |
Institution | John T. Wilson Distinguished Service Professor; Department of Chemistry & Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; The University of Chicago |
Rayson Huang Visiting Lectureship in Chemistry
*Rayson Huang Public Lecture*
Title:
Chromatin regulation by RNA methylation
Schedule:
Date: 15th January, 2025 (Wednesday)
Time: 5:30 - 6:30 pm (HKT)
Venue: Rayson Huang Theatre, Main Campus, HKU
Speaker:
Prof. Chuan He
The University of Chicago
Biography:
Prof. He is the John T. Wilson Distinguished Service Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Chicago. He received his bachelor of science degree in 1994 from the University of Science and Technology of China and his Ph.D. in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2000, studying under professor Stephen J. Lippard. After training as a Damon-Runyon postdoctoral fellow with professor Gregory L. Verdine at Harvard University, he joined the University of Chicago as an assistant professor, rising to associate professor in 2008 and full professor in 2010. He was selected as an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute in 2013. Prof. He’s research spans a broad range of fields including chemical biology, RNA biology, epigenetics, biochemistry, and genomics. His recent research concerns reversible RNA and DNA methylation in biological regulation. In 2011, his group discovered reversible RNA methylation as a new mechanism of gene expression regulation. His laboratory characterized the RNA m6A methyltransferase complex and several key reader proteins that bind preferentially to m6A-modified RNA and regulate their stability and translation. In 2020, Prof. He’s laboratory reported prevalent m6A methylation on chromatin-associated regulatory RNAs (carRNAs), which regulates chromatin state and global transcription. The reversible methylation of carRNA controls mammalian and plant development. His laboratory also spearheaded the development of enabling technologies to study RNA and DNA modifications as well as gene expression regulation.
Abstract:
Over 170 types of post-transcriptional RNA modifications have been identified in all kingdoms of life. We have discovered RNA demethylation and shown that reversible RNA modification could impact a wide range of biological processes. We have also characterized proteins that selectively recognize m6A-modified mRNA and affect the translation status and lifetime of the target RNA. I will present our recent discoveries on chromatin state regulation by chromatin-associated regulatory RNA (carRNA) methylation. We found that carRNAs contain different chemical marks which facilitate recruitment of chromatin factors to shape local and global chromatin state. This new mode of chromatin regulation plays critical roles in animal and plant development. Some of these carRNA methylation-dependent pathways also explain oncogenic roles of well-known oncogenes, which provides potential new targets for future anti-cancer therapies. I will present our most recent work on how TET2 mutations led to chromatin activation and leukemogenesis through carRNA methylation modulation.
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