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Xiang-Dong Fu
Affiliation: UCSD SOM
Associate Professor of Cellular and Molecular Medicine
xdfu@ucsd.edu
Phone: 858-534-4937Biography
Dr. Fu received his Ph.D. in 1988 from Case Western Reserve University. He conducted postdoctoral research in Dr. Tom Maniatis' laboratory at Harvard from 1988 to 1992. He joint the faculty at the University of California, San Diego in 1992. Dr. Fu was selected as the Searle Scholar in 1994 and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Scholar in 1997. Dr. Fu is known for his work in the field of pre-mRNA processing. More recently, Dr. Fu1s laboratory is pioneering a novel microarray approach to alternative splicing and its applications in both basic and cancer research
Research Summary
The majority of genes in eukaryotic cells is transcribed initially as precursor mRNAs, which have to be precisely spliced together in the nucleus to form functional mRNAs to program protein synthesis in the cytoplasm. Recent advances in the field have show that the processing steps are also tightly coupled with transcription, RNA stability and transport, which together constitute a complex network to regulate gene expression in the cell. In addition, up to 60% of primary transcripts are subject to alternative splicing, which significantly increases the complexity and functional diversity of the proteome in eukaryotic cells. Thus, the splicing regulation has become part of the focal point in functional genomics research.
To attack the splicing problem in development and disease, the lab is focusing on three research areas. The first is to use the gene targeting strategy to investigate the role of the SR proteins in constitutive and regulated splicing. The lab is currently exploring the cardiovascular system as a model to address how developmental and tissue-specific alternative splicing are regulated by specific SR proteins and the functional consequences resulting from misregulation of alternative splicing. Recent work in the lab illustrates a set of key developmentally and tissue-specifically regulated splicing events that are critical for heart function. Because SR proteins are themselves subject to regulation by phosphorylation via a specific family of protein kinases, which were first identified and characterized in the Fu lab, the second research area in the lab is to investigate how splicing may be regulated by signaling via those kinases. A combination of biochemical, structural, and genetic approaches are being applied to address the regulation of RNA processing by phosphorylation and the integration of RNA processing with transcription and RNA export. The third research area is the development of a novel microarray approach to profiling alternative splicing in normal and cancer cells. The technology is also intended to aid target identification in splicing factor knockout mice. As part of this new initiative, the lab is constructing a high quality alternative splicing database and developing bioinformatics methods for microarray design and data analysis.
References
©2008 UCSD/Burnham Molecular Pathology Graduate Program