题目:  Selenium Nucleic Acids (SeNA) for Structure and Function Studies

2009- Present  Professor, Georgia State University, Director of SeNA Research Institute

2004-2009          Associate Professor, Georgia State University

1998-2004          Assistant Professor, Brooklyn College, City University of New York

1994-1998          Postdoctoral Researcher, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA

1994 Ph.D.         Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zurich, Switzerland

1987 MS             Peking University

1984 BS              Sichuan University

Research Interests:

Selenium Nucleic Acids (SeNA), Nucleic Acid-Protein Structural Biology; Enzyme Structure and Function Studies; Direct RNA Detection & RNA Microchip; Nucleic Acid Novel Drug Discovery

Abstract

Nucleic acid is composed of five essential elements (H, C, N, O and P). Atom-specifically functionalized nucleic acids by introducing an additional element (such as Se) can offer nucleic acids with many unique and novel properties (such as facilitated crystallization and phase determination) without significant perturbation of 3D structures of nucleic acids and their protein complexes. Atom-specific replacement of nucleic acid oxygen with selenium means the substitution of O with Se atom. Nucleic acids possess not only the ability to store genetic information and participate in replication, transcription and translation, but also the capacity to adopt well-defined 3D structures, which can be readily adjusted to meet various functional needs (such as catalysis and therapeutics). Although the importance of numerous nucleic acids in catalysis, gene expression, protein binding and therapeutics has been acknowledged by the entire scientific society, current understanding of nucleic acid-protein interactions, functions and structures is still limited, especially due to lack of high-resolution structures. Thus, this novel selenium atom-specific mutagenesis provides important tools to investigate nucleic acid structure/folding, recognition and catalysis, to study nucleic acids and their protein interactions, to improve biochemical and biophysical properties of nucleic acids, to facilitate gene silencing and RNA & DNA nanotechnology, and to explore potential nucleic acid therapeutics and diagnostics. Our presentation will focus on the most recent selenium-atom functionalization of nucleic acids and their potential applications in 3D structure-and-function studies and anticancer therapeutics in molecular medicine. The research work is supported by NIH (R01GM095881, GM095086, ES026935), NSF (MCB-0824837 & CHE-0750235), and CNSF-21572146.