Phillip Zamore
University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, MA·Biochemistry
Argonautes are a family of proteins that can be loaded with almost any short RNA or DNA sequence. They then use that sequence as a guide to find and control matching genes.
- Fields
Biochemistry
Genetics
Biology
- Topics
Argonaute
piRNA
PIWI-interacting RNA
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Apr 2031
What they work on
- Identify the regulatory targets and gene-control mechanisms of pachytene piRNAs, small RNAs abundant in mouse sperm-precursor cells, using biochemistry and mouse genetics.
- Determine why certain genome regions and transcripts are selected to make piRNAs, comparing flies, moths and mice to find ancient and newly evolved strategies for loading PIWI proteins.
- Explain how the protein GTSF1 activates PIWI's RNA-cutting activity, and why distinct GTSF1 versions act across sperm and egg development, using single-molecule kinetics, modeling and genetics.
More about the research
They regulate whether genes are turned on, how long messenger RNAs last, and whether those RNAs are made into protein. This research asks how Argonautes change the behavior of their small RNA guides, how the two main branches of the family (AGO and PIWI proteins) evolved different ways to load guides and find targets, and why these differences matter.
Why it matters
Understanding how Argonautes and small RNAs control genes adds to basic knowledge of development and reproduction. Because the proteins that make pachytene piRNAs are essential for fertility in mice and men, the work could inform understanding of male infertility. Research on Argonautes has already led to small RNA drugs that silence fatal human genes.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Josephina Van Wolfswinkel
Yale University, CT·Biology
Determine how source transcripts for piRNAs, small RNAs that silence jumping genes, are generated and recognized in planarian neoblast stem cells, and how the response is kept away from important genes.
Craig Mello
University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, MA·Genetics
Determine how germline cells distinguish 'licensed' genetic information that should be expressed from potentially dangerous 'unlicensed' information such as foreign or mobile sequences, using C. elegans small-RNA silencing pathways.
Alicia Rogers
University of Texas at Arlington, TX·Genetics·Early-career
Test whether feedback loops between RNA interference and chromatin modifying pathways keep the two in balance to protect germ cell identity during heat stress, using C. elegans germline genetics, physiological assays and multi-omics profiling.
The school
University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School: 29 labs on PI Pages, $350M a year on research, 55 research doctorates a year.
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