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Fernando E. Santiago
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Research Interests:
miRNAs in oncogenesis – microRNAs are an interesting and novel class of small non-coding RNAs that are incorporated into nucleoprotein complexes (RISC) that are then responsible for repression of translation of cognate messenger RNAs. MicroRNA expression profiling reveals interesting global changes in microRNA levels that correlate with important transitions in development and pathogenesis. It seems likely that many of these microRNAs act in conjunction to form regulatory networks that exert their repressive effects at a systems level, thus “fine-tuning” protein expression from noisier mRNA levels. Still other microRNAs appear to exert their effect on discreet proteins or signalling nodes, such that their expression modulates important aspects of cell biology like proliferation and apoptosis. Not surprisingly, many interesting microRNAs have been shown to be dysregulated in several tumor types; the idea that microRNAs participate in oncogenesis has given rise to the term “oncomiR.” Presently my research focuses on the functional characterization of several candidate “oncomiRs” and understanding the roles they play in the molecular etiology of cancer.
E-mail: incendio at hotmail.com
Publications:
- Zhong W, Feng H, Santiago FE, Kipreos ET. CUL-4 ubiquitin ligase maintains genome stability by restraining DNA-replication licensing. Nature. 2003 Jun 19;423(6942):885-9.
- Nayak S, Santiago FE, Jin H, Lin D, Schedl T, Kipreos ET. The Caenorhabditis elegans Skp1-related gene family: diverse functions in cell proliferation, morphogenesis, and meiosis. Curr Biol. 2002 Feb 19;12(4):277-87.
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