The center is catalyzing the Human RNome Project, a global effort to identify and sequence all human RNA, in all of its forms. The center is establishing collaborations with Brown’s Center for Alzheimer's Disease Research and Center on the Biology of Aging. The overall goal is for Brown University and Rhode Island as a whole to become a major hub for RNA research nationwide. 

RNA, or ribonucleic acid, helps translate information from organisms’ genes into proteins, one of the major building blocks of all living things. It also regulates gene expression. Modifications to the chemical structure of human RNA could be instrumental in preventing and developing treatments for a wide variety of complex diseases. The COVID-19 messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccine, for example, relies on modified RNA.

RNA Center Researchers

Genetics

Robert Reenan
Professor of Biology
robert_reenan@brown.edu
Robert Reenan studies how genomes encode and regulate proteins and non-coding RNAs involved in rapid electrical and chemical signaling in the brain, both normally and in disease. His research has focused on RNA editing, comparative genomics, small non-coding RNA, heterochromatin, and the evolution of RNA structure. Current studies are focused on neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS, dementia, and Alzheimer's and on understanding the role of RNA modification and the regulation of non-coding RNAs in disease mechanisms as a way to gain insights into novel treatments and diagnostics.

Disease/Translational Research

Monaghan, Sean
Associate Professor of Surgery
sean_monaghan@brown.edu
Sean Monaghan studies the use of deep RNA sequencing (>100 million reads) data from patients with sepsis. He looks at multiple distinct data sets from this single blood draw to study the host response through gene expression, alternative RNA splicing, antibody formation, and non-coding RNA. He also studies RNA from pathogens causing the infection of patients with sepsis as they relate to potential better diagnostic abilities and future therapeutic targets. 

Nikos Tapinos
Sidney A. Fox and Dorothea Doctors Fox Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, Visual Science, and Neuroscience
nikos_tapinos@brown.edu
Nikos Tapinos’s research focuses on the mechanisms that regulate cellular plasticity, RNA epigenetics, and chromatin organization of cancer cells. He has developed first-in-class small molecule therapeutics targeting m6A RNA modifications of cancer cells, RNA-based vaccines for immunotherapy, and proprietary technology for siRNA therapeutics.

RNomics

William Fairbrother
Professor of Biology
william_fairbrother@brown.edu
William Fairbrother’s research focuses on precision medicine and RNA genomics. In particular, he uses genomics, biochemistry, and computational biology to study RNA splicing. He also studies the interplay of RNA biology and immune responses in the cell and pioneered a way to map branchpoints in human introns.

Bess Frost
Professor of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry, Director of the Center for Alzheimer’s Disease Research
bess_frost@brown.edu
Bess Frost studies the basic neurobiology underlying brain aging and neurodegeneration, with an emphasis on Alzheimer's disease and related tauopathies. She currently focuses on transposable elements, nuclear and genomic architecture, and RNA biology in the context of tauopathies and brain aging. 

Susan A. Gerbi
George D. Eggleston Professor Emerita of Biochemistry, Professor of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry (Research)
susan_gerbi@brown.edu
Susan A. Gerbi uses the tools of molecular biology to analyze the structure, function, biogenesis, and evolution of eukaryotic ribosomal RNA (rRNA). The Gerbi lab sequenced the first eukaryotic 28S rRNA from a multicellular animal, revealing  a conserved secondary structure shared with all domains of life. More recently, the lab defined "conserved nucleotide elements" (CNEs) in rRNA, some of which  are universal in all domains of life. The lab was the  first to demonstrate in vivo that U3 small nucleolar RNA (snoRNA) is required for rRNA processing where the initial precursor molecule is cut into its mature portions. The group also determined the secondary structure of U3 snoRNA and discovered that box C/D and box H/ACA sequences target snoRNAs in the nucleolus (the site in the nucleolus where ribosomes are made). 

Erica Larschan 
Associate Professor of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry
erica_larschan@brown.edu
Erica Larschan combines genomics, genetics, and computational biology to uncover new mechanisms that coordinate gene regulation across eukaryotic species. A primary goal is to define how genes are identified for coordinate regulation, the key initial step in their regulation. She has worked on gene regulation in the context of brain development, cancer, and Alzheimer's.

Molecular Biology

Juan Alfonzo
Professor of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry
juan_alfonzo@brown.edu
Juan Alfonzo is the Mencoff Family Executive Director of the Brown RNA Center and a leader of the Human RNome Project, a global effort to identify and sequence all human RNA, in all of its forms. His work focuses on the study of RNA modifications and their functions in health and disease. His group uses multi-pronged approaches to study the biosynthesis and function of tRNA modifications.

Sarah Delaney
Professor of Chemistry
sarah_delaney@brown.edu
Sarah Delaney is working on a chemically logical roadmap to understand how damage to nucleic acids relates to genetic change and human disease. Her research group studies modified nucleic acids within well-defined systems, with a focus on the biochemistry and enzymology of damage-repair mechanisms. 

Kimberly Mowry
Robin Chemers Neustein Professor of Biomedicine, Chair of Molecular Biology, Cell Biology and Biochemistry
kimberly_mowry@brown.edu
Kimberly Mowry’s research focuses on the molecular mechanisms by which informational molecules, such as mRNA and proteins, are localized to specified regions of the cell cytoplasm.

Biophysics

Nicolas Fawzi 
Professor of Medical Science
nicolas_fawzi@brown.edu
Nicolas Fawzi's work focuses on determining the structure, dynamics, and interactions of large assemblies of intrinsically disordered proteins. In particular, he studies 1) protein aggregates implicated in Alzheimer’s disease and 2) liquid-liquid phase separated forms of RNA-binding proteins associated with transcription in cancers, as well as inclusion formation in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS/Lou Gehrig's disease) and frontotemporal  dementia. 

Gerwald Jogl
Associate Professor of Biology
gerwald_jogl@brown.edu
Gerwald Jogl uses X-ray crystallography, together with biochemical and biophysical approaches, to study the structure and function of proteins and macromolecular complexes such as the ribosome. His goal is to understand the molecular mechanism of antibiotic resistance caused by mutations in bacterial ribosomes and to evaluate the contribution of post-transcriptional rRNA modifications to ribosome function and antibiotic resistance.

Physiology/Metabolism

Federica Accornero
George D. Eggleston Associate Professor of Biochemistry
federica_accornero@brown.edu
Federica Accornero studies cardiac and skeletal muscle pathologies. She focuses in particular on gene expression, especially the role of RNA and RNA modifications, in regulating organ function, as once RNA is produced it can be modified to affect protein synthesis. 

Cell Biology

Kate O'Connor-Giles
Provost's Professor of Brain Science
kate_oconnor-giles@brown.edu
Kate O'Connor-Giles’s research combines genomic and proteomic studies with in vivo genetic, electrophysiological, imaging, and behavioral studies to identify and understand the molecules and mechanisms underlying synapse formation, function, and plasticity. The O’Connor-Giles lab has also developed new genome engineering tools to overcome barriers to the study of synapses in intact organisms.