Epigenetic and post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression in pluripotent stem cells, differentiation and metastasis

Abstract

Transmission of information from DNA to RNA to protein underlies the core of modem life forms. The advance in sequencing and genetic technologies has revolutionized the study of molecular biology, genetics and developmental biology enabling delineation of biological processes in unprecedented details. Through the study of epigenetics and posttranscriptional regulation of gene expression by high-throughput sequencing technologies in several biological processes, namely embryonic stem cells, somatic reprogramming, erythroid differentiation, epithelial-mesenchymal transition and cancer metastasis, this thesis work has identified novel players and regulatory mechanisms underlying these developmental processes and diseases. Furthermore, an attempt to engineer CRISPRzymes - protein fusions of RNA-guided DNA binding dCas9 - will enable experiments to directly test biological processes at defined genomic loci and expands the toolbox for synthetic biology and potentially opens up opportunities for novel therapeutics.