Anna Knoerlein, PhD
Research Fellow
David Lab

Project Title: “Sugar-coating RNA: Unraveling the impact of RNA Glycation on Cell”

Sugars and other reactive metabolites can react spontaneously with biomolecules yielding in so-called non-enzymatic covalent modifications (NECMs). While these NECMS are well studied in proteins and DNA, there is little known about NECMS on RNA. This project aims to develop a chemical biological platform to detect sugar adducts on RNA and investigate their physiological impact on RNA structure and function.

Project Title: “The OTX Family of Transcription Factors in Ferroptosis and Retinal Dystrophy and Degeneration.”

This project investigates how the transcription factors CRX and OTX2, crucial for retinal cell development, suppress ferroptosis. Using CRISPR/Cas9-activation screen, functional analysis, and engineered zebrafish models, the study aims to uncover the mechanisms by which CRX and OTX2 regulate the retinoic acid signaling pathway to protect retinal cells, potentially leading to new therapies for retinal dystrophy.

Hipolito Cuesta, PhD
Research Scholar
Dar Lab

Project Title: Chemical Tools to Modulate a Kinase: Kinase Complex

The main object of this project is to characterize the kinase domain:kinase domain dimerization from the already well stablished c-Src:FAK complex, a signaling hub highly related with malignancy of many Cancer types. From that point, we aim to design a novel inhibitor by the linkage of the already designed but not approved existing ones. This way, we should be able to overcome the existing problems due to the lack of specificity of the c-Src inhibitors and potency of the FAK ones, leading to the modulation of this critical signaling hub that remains elusive despite all the efforts focused on it.