Libin Zhang
Post-Doctoral Fellow
Phone: 970-491-4881
Fax: 970-491-4941
Email: zhanglb@lamar.colostate.edu
Degrees
- B.S. - Biochemistry, College of Life Science, Wuhan University; China
- PhD - Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Department of Biotechnology, Wuhan University; China
Research Interests
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Myotonic dystrophy is a debilitating genetic disease caused by a triplet repeat expansion in the 3'UTR of the DMPK gene. Interestingly, the majority of disease pathogenesis is not due to reduced expression of DMPK, but rather is caused by accumulation of toxic RNA containing the repeats within nuclear foci.
One of the consequences of the DM mutation is aberrant expression of an RNA-binding protein CUG-BP. CUG-BP has already been implicated in DM pathogenesis through its role in modulating splicing of several muscle-specific mRNAs. In addition, CUG-BP has been shown to regulate translation of clinically relevant mRNAs. Now our research suggests that CUG-BP may also be involved in regulating deadenylation and decay of certain mRNAs including that encoding the cytokine TNF alpha. Moraes et al 2006
My research is currently aimed at determining whether the altered expression of CUG-BP in DM patients results in inappropriate stabilization of specific transcripts. We are using the mouse myoblast cell line C2C12 as a model in these studies.
Publications
Zhang L, Xiao M, Lu C, Zhang Y.(2005) Fast formation of the P3-P7 pseudoknot: a strategy for efficient folding of the catalytically active ribozyme. RNA 11(1):59-69.
Links
Muscular Dystrophy Association
http://www.mdausa.org/
CUG-BP (Gene on Pubmed)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=gene&cmd=Retrieve&dopt=full_report&list_uids=10658
International Myotonic Dystrophy Association
http://www.myotonicdystrophy.org/
Gene Reviews:Myotonic Dystrophy Type I
http://www.geneclinics.org/profiles/myotonic-d/
Gene Reviews:Myotonic Dystrophy Type 2
http://www.geneclinics.org/profiles/myotonic-d2/