Enzymes in RNA Science and Biotechnology Part B

Prof. Ryota Yamagami received his Ph.D degree under the supervision of Prof. Hori at Ehime University in Japan in 2015 where he studied folate-dependent tRNA methyltransferase and tRNA modification network in Thermus thermophilus, a thermophilic bacterium. After his Ph.D course, he had worked in the lab for 1 year as a JSPS postdoctral fellow. He then joined the Bevilacqua Lab at Pennsylvania State University as a postdoctal fellow in 2016 where he has studied RNA folding. Dr. Chun Kit Kwok obtained his B.Sc. in Chemistry (2009) from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, after completing an exchange program at University of California, Los Angeles in 2007-2008. He completed his PhD in Pennsylvania State University (2014), mentored by Professor Philip C. Bevilacqua and Professor Sarah M. Assmann. In Apr 2014, Dr. Kwok worked as a Croucher Postdoctoral Fellow in University of Cambridge under Professor Sir Shankar Balasubramanian. In Oct 2016, Dr. Kwok's joined the City University of Hong Kong as an Assistant professor and has been promoted to Associate professor in July 2021. In 2019, he was one of the recipients of the CityU President Award and Croucher Innovation Award. In 2020, Dr. Kwok's joined the State Key Laboratory of Marine Pollution, City University of Hong Kong. In 2021, Dr. Kwok was recognized as elected member of Hong Kong Young Academy of Science (YASHK) and Hong Kong Institute for Advanced Study Rising Star in Chemistry. In 2022, Dr. Kwok was awarded the NSFC Excellent Young Scientist Fund.Dr. Kwok’s current research focus is to explore the role of RNA structures and interactions in biology, especially the functions of G-quadruplex structures/interactions and non-coding RNA structures/interactions in the mammalian transcriptome and their relevance to gene regulation, RNA metabolism and diseases. Two new research directions in the Kwok lab are to develop targeting tools for detection, imaging, intervention of these important RNA structures and interactions, as well as to invent innovative nucleic acid-based technologies for sensing chemical pollutants and pathogens

• Post-transcriptional modification enzymes1. Quantitative base-resolution sequencing technology for mapping pseudouridines in mammalian mRNALi-Sheng Zhang2. Quantitative base-resolution DAMM-seq for mapping RNA methylations in tRNA and mitochondrial dsRNALi-Sheng Zhang3. Discovering RNA modification enzymes using a comparative genomics approachSatoshi Kimura4. Functional analysis of tRNA modification enzymes using mutational profilingRyota Yamagami and Hiroyuki Hori5. Fluorescent labeling of tRNA for rapid kinetic interaction studies with tRNA-binding proteinsUte Kothe and Sarah Schultz6. Enzymatic Synthesis of RNA Standards for Mapping and Quantifying RNA Modifications in Sequencing AnalysisHoward Gamper, Caroline McCormick, Amr Makhamreh, Meni Wanunu, Sara Rouhanifard and Ya-Ming HouNucleases7. Characterizing RNase L-mediated mRNA decay in single cellsJames Burke, Renee Cusic and Monty Watkins8. Characterization of RNase JBalasubramanian Gopal, Muralidharan Vandanashree and Ankur Singh9. Pri-miRNA cleavage assays for the Microprocessor complexTuan Anh Nguyen, Cong Truc Le and Thi Nhu Y. Le10. The pre-miRNA cleavage assays for DICERTuan Anh Nguyen, Cong Truc Le and Thi Nhu Y. Le11. Methods for study of ribonuclease targeting chimerasMatt Disney, Noah Springer, Samatha Meyer, Yuquan Tong, Jessica Childs-Disney and Raphael Isaac Benhamou12. Profiling the in vivo RNA interactome associated with the endoribonuclease RNase III in Staphylococcus aureusWinton Wu, Chi Nam Ignatius Pang, Jai Tree and Daniel Giuseppe Mediati