Before a gene can be expressed as a protein, its DNA must first be transcribed, or copied, into messenger RNA (mRNA), which then travels from the nucleus to the cytoplasm for translation into protein. As it copies a gene’s DNA, mRNA splices from itself elements corresponding to the non-coding portions of the DNA message, known as introns; and it simultaneously stitches together elements called exons that correspond to the DNA’s protein-coding regions.

Matthew Gamble, Ph.D., has received a four-year, $2 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to better understand how DNA’s transcription into mRNA is regulated. His lab will use a novel technique called SKaTER-seq (Splicing Kinetics and Transcription Elongation Rates through sequencing) to determine the individual rates at which each intron is removed. The findings should provide insights into underlying mechanisms that regulate splicing as well as the causes of splicing dysfunction that leads to disease.

Dr. Gamble is associate professor of molecular pharmacology and of cell biology at Einstein. (1 R01 GM134379-01A1)