Transcriptomics, Non-Coding RNAs
and Gene Therapy
We use gene expression technologies like RNA-seq, circ-RNA-seq, sc-RNA-seq and spatial transcriptomics to understand pathways and gene expression in the heart and identify new molecules for characterisation.
CRISPR-screening, both conventional and CRISPRi/CRISPRa, can facilitate the functional elucidation of genes and pathways in processes in an unbiased and genome wide-scale. We have used this to understand how cardiomyocytes deal with stress and how they differentiate and mature using hESC/iPSC models.
Gene therapy in the form of delivering genes via mRNA, circular RNA and AAV methods in vivo allows us to test pathways and molecules that can influence heart function and pave the way for new medicinal targets.
Technologies are rapidly improving year on year. We adopted RNA-seq and scRNA analysis early in the field and identified molecules that change during cardiac stress, cardiomyocyte dedifferentiation. Some included novel RNA species such as long noncoding and circular RNAs. We are also adopting spatial RNA-seq in the lab.
Long non-coding RNAs (and now micropeptides) and circular RNAs as well as pathways such as dedifferentiation and reprogramming need mechanistic study to understand how to manipulate these processes in heart health and disease. We have and continue to work on a number of these molecules and pathways to identify new drug targets and molecular regulators of heart health and metabolism.
