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overview
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Phillip D. Zamore, Ph.D., the Gretchen Stone Cook Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, and Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, is Chair of the RNA Therapeutics Institute, which was established at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 2009. Zamore received his A.B. and Ph.D. degrees in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Harvard University. He then pursued postdoctoral studies at MIT and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.
The Zamore laboratory studies small RNA silencing pathways in eukaryotes and prokaryotes, including the RNA interference (RNAi), microRNA, and PIWI-interacting RNA pathways. Zamore and his collaborators seek to use the fundamental insights gained from studies in model and non-model bacteria, insects, and mammals to design therapies for human diseases, including Huntington’s disease.
In 2015, Zamore was awarded the Chancellor’s Medal for Excellence in Scholarship at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. To date, Zamore has more than 125 publications and has been among the most highly cited researchers for more than a decade.
Zamore was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors in 2014 and was selected in 2015 by Nature Biotechnology as one of the Top 20 Translational Researchers of 2014. In 2002, Zamore co-founded Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a publicly traded biotech company which now has more than 200 employees and currently has more than six drugs in clinical trials. In 2014, he co-founded Voyager Therapeutics. He serves on the scientific advisory boards of Alnylam, Voyager, and RaNA Therapeutics.
Understanding the molecular mechanisms of post-transcriptional gene regulation.
How do animal embryos regulate the localization, translation, and stability of mRNAs?
In Drosophila, mRNA encoding the transcription factor, hunchback, is present throughout the embryo, but is translated into protein only in the anterior half of the cell. Two proteins, NANOS and PUMILIO. are required to repress hunchback translation in the posterior half of the fly embryo. PUMILIO binds RNA through a novel RNA-binding motif found in proteins that control developmental decisions in yeast, slime mold, and worms, and is more than 80% identical to a protein of unknown function in humans. A major goal of our laboratory is to learn how PUMILIO and NANOS control hunchback mRNA translation and to determine the biological role of the human PUMILIO protein.
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overview
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Phillip D. Zamore, Ph.D., the Gretchen Stone Cook Professor of Biomedical Sciences, Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, and Investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, is Chair of the RNA Therapeutics Institute, which was established at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in 2009. Zamore received his A.B. and Ph.D. degrees in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Harvard University. He then pursued postdoctoral studies at MIT and the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research.
The Zamore laboratory studies small RNA silencing pathways in eukaryotes and prokaryotes, including the RNA interference (RNAi), microRNA, and PIWI-interacting RNA pathways. Zamore and his collaborators seek to use the fundamental insights gained from studies in model and non-model bacteria, insects, and mammals to design therapies for human diseases, including Huntington’s disease.
In 2015, Zamore was awarded the Chancellor’s Medal for Excellence in Scholarship at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. To date, Zamore has more than 125 publications and has been among the most highly cited researchers for more than a decade.
Zamore was elected a Fellow of the National Academy of Inventors in 2014 and was selected in 2015 by Nature Biotechnology as one of the Top 20 Translational Researchers of 2014. In 2002, Zamore co-founded Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, a publicly traded biotech company which now has more than 200 employees and currently has more than six drugs in clinical trials. In 2014, he co-founded Voyager Therapeutics. He serves on the scientific advisory boards of Alnylam, Voyager, and RaNA Therapeutics.
Understanding the molecular mechanisms of post-transcriptional gene regulation.
How do animal embryos regulate the localization, translation, and stability of mRNAs?
In Drosophila, mRNA encoding the transcription factor, hunchback, is present throughout the embryo, but is translated into protein only in the anterior half of the cell. Two proteins, NANOS and PUMILIO. are required to repress hunchback translation in the posterior half of the fly embryo. PUMILIO binds RNA through a novel RNA-binding motif found in proteins that control developmental decisions in yeast, slime mold, and worms, and is more than 80% identical to a protein of unknown function in humans. A major goal of our laboratory is to learn how PUMILIO and NANOS control hunchback mRNA translation and to determine the biological role of the human PUMILIO protein.
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Post Docs
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A postdoctoral position is available to study in this laboratory. Contact Dr. Zamore for additional details
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Rotation Projects
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Potential Rotation ProjectsOur laboratory uses a combination of biochemistry, cell biology, and genetics to dissect the RNAi pathway. A rotation project is available to explore the mechanisms that underlie the RNAi phenomenon or the biological pathways in which RNAi enzymes participate in flies, mice and humans.
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