Hannah Shorrock
University at Albany, NY·Genetics·Early-career
Cells normally read a gene's message starting at a specific signal, the AUG start codon, and in a single reading frame. Some RNA messages break these rules.
- Fields
Genetics
Biochemistry
Neuroscience
- Topics
RAN translation
repeat-associated non-AUG translation
CAG repeat expansion
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Aug 2027
What they work on
- Measure how much of the human genome can undergo multi-frame translation (MFT), using a new reporter system that detects protein made in several reading frames, in a genome-wide screen.
- Determine the RNA folding structures that let CAG repeat expansions and newly identified long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) be translated in multiple frames without an AUG start codon.
- Identify the cellular protein networks that support non-canonical multi-frame translation of candidate MFT sequences and CAG repeat expansions.
- Find therapeutically relevant modifiers that alter both normal and repeat-associated non-AUG (RAN) translation at the same time, using a first-of-its-kind screening strategy.
More about the research
In inherited brain diseases caused by CAG repeat expansions, where a short three-letter DNA sequence is copied too many times, cells can make several toxic proteins from the same stretch of RNA. Understanding how this rule-breaking works could point to treatments that act on many of these diseases at once.
Why it matters
People with CAG repeat expansion diseases currently have few options, and each disease is usually treated separately. By identifying the RNA structures, proteins and modifiers that control multi-frame translation, this work could reveal therapy targets that work across several CAG repeat disorders. The same targets might apply to a wider range of neurological diseases.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Jailson Brito Querido
University of Michigan, MI·Biochemistry
Determine how expanded GGGGCC repeats in C9orf72 mRNA physically engage the ribosome to trigger non-AUG start site selection, using cryo-electron microscopy with biochemical and genetic approaches.
Thomas Martinez
University of California-Irvine, CA·Biochemistry
Select curated sets of disordered microproteins whose short linear motifs (SLiMs) match those in proteins for signaling, RNA metabolism or cell organization, to predict likely functions.
Gloria Ann Brar
University of California-Berkeley, CA·Genetics
Map how protein complexes are broken down, rebuilt and reorganized as budding yeast form gametes, using proteomics to create an atlas of the parts that are reset during this natural rejuvenation.
The school
University at Albany: 15 labs on PI Pages, $472M a year on research, 144 research doctorates a year.
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