Research Interests
Broadly speaking, we want to understand the physiology and pathology of non-coding RNA and their interactors in hematopoiesis. Gene expression is a key component of regulating hematopoiesis, and many non-coding RNAs have some effect on gene expression. One subset of non-coding RNA, microRNAs, regulate gene expression and are thought, in most cases, to repress mRNA translation or cause degradation. It is now clear that certain miRNAs are important in controlling the differentiation of hematopoietic cells. The majority of studies point towards specific roles for these miRNAs in the differentiation of specific cell types, and we study how B-lymphocyte differentiation is regulated by various miRNAs. As we attempt to understand the mechanistic basis of miRNA action, we study key transcriptional regulators and targets of these miRNAs by using a combination of high-throughput gene expression analyses and computational approaches. miRNAs are frequently deregulated in hematolymphoid malignancies, and we are interested in both the pathophysiology of these processes and the thereapeutic possibilities offered by small RNAs. In addition, new classes of non-coding RNA are being described and we are interested in understanding how they might fit into the differentiation schema in hematopoiesis and how they might be disrupted in cancer. Hence, a better understanding of the action of non-coding RNA would be useful in our understanding of development, and could advance our understanding of the pathogenesis and treatment of hematolymphoid malignancies.