Email: twn

Office Location: Wood Blgd. W127

Office Phone: 216-368-1606

Office FAX: 216-368-2010

Laboratory Location: W123, RT100 K, L

Laboratory Phone: 216-368-8531

Director of the Center for RNA Molecular Biology

Education: Ph.D. Molecular Biology, SUNY Albany, 1978

Secondary Appointment in: Department of Biochemistry, Department of Medicine

Editor of the RNA Journal

Curriculum Vitae

The RNA Journal

Our lab is currently studying several aspects of post-transcriptional gene regulation:

1. Identification and mechanistic characterization of splicing silencers. Splicing silencers are RNA elements that downregulate the use of splice sites.

2. Mechanism of trans-splicing in a parasitic nematode. We have developed cell free systems to analyze this unusual splicing reaction that joins two independently transcribed RNAs.

3. Mechanism whereby miRNAs regulate translation. miRNAs are small RNAs that bind to the 3' UTRs of target mRNAs and downregulate their translation.

4. Mechanism by which the exon junction complex enhances translation. The EJC is deposited on mRNAs as a consequence of splicing and upregulates translation of spliced mRNAs.

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