Time: 09:30-10:50 on Fri.,Mar.24, 2023

Zoom link：941 913 0225   

Password：0324 

Speaker: Dr.Yongjun Qian

Host: Dr.Mu Zhou

Title:  Programmable RNA Sensing for Cell Monitoring, Manipulation and Precision Medicine

Abstract：

One important prohibitive bottleneck in current biological and medical research is the lack of highly modular and programmable technologies to monitor and manipulate specific cell types and cell states. RNAs are the central and universal mediator of genetic information underlying the diversity of cell types and cell states, which together shape tissue organization and organismal function across species and life spans. Despite advances in RNA sequencing and massive accumulation of transcriptome datasets across life sciences, the dearth of technologies that leverage RNAs to observe, manipulate and edit cell types remains a prohibitive bottleneck in biology and medicine. I will describe CellREADR (Cell access through RNA sensing by Endogenous ADAR), a programmable RNA sensing technology that leverages RNA editing mediated by ADAR (adenosine deaminase acting on RNA) for coupling the detection of cell-defining RNAs with translation of effector proteins. Viral delivery of CellREADR conferred specific cell type access in mouse, rat and macaque brains, and in ex vivo human brain tissues. Furthermore, CellREADR enabled recording and control of neuron types in behaving mice. CellREADR thus highlights the potential for RNA-based monitoring and editing of animal cells in ways that are specific, versatile, easy, and generalizable across organ systems and species, with broad applications in biology, biotechnology, and programmable RNA medicine.

Biography：

Yongjun Qian received his bachelor's degree from China Pharmaceutical University in 2009. He then pursued his Ph.D. in the laboratory of Prof. Yi Rao at Peking University from 2009 to 2016, where his research focused on the molecular and neural circuit analysis of sleep behavior in fruit flies. Following his Ph.D., he worked as a postdoctoral researcher in the lab of Prof. Josh Huang at Cold Spring Harbor and later at Duke University, starting in 2018 to present. During his postdoctoral training, he developed an innovative tool called CellREADR that enables the monitoring and manipulation of any cell type, with promising applications in RNA medicine.