Andrea Kasinski

Greater than 90% of the human genome is transcribed, yet the functional role for most transcripts is unknown. Many of these unknown transcripts fall into a class of RNAs referred to as non-coding RNAs. The general goal of the Kasinski Lab is to determine the molecular contribution of non-coding RNAs (microRNAs, lncRNA, circRNAs) in normal and disease cells, and to capitalize on this knowledge through developing RNA-based therapeutics. The current projects in the Kasinski lab are subdivided into the following:

Project 1: Ligand-mediated delivery of therapeutically relevant small RNAs
Project 2: Endogenous delivery of RNAs through secreted extracellular vesicles (ie. exosomes)
Project 3: High throughput screening for small molecule inhibitors that alter miRNA biogenesis
Project 4: Identification of miRNAs and protein-coding genes mediating drug resistance