RNAi, microRNA and functional genomics
Date: 22 October 2008
Time:12:30pm - 2:00pm
Venue: 126, C N Yang Reading Room, Science Centre North Block
Speaker: Prof. CHEN Yangchao,Department of Medicine and Therapeutics, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Prof. Chen represents Prof. KUNG Hsiang Fu’s group to present their research work.)
Abstract: The gene knockdown technique of RNA interference (RNAi) has revolutionized the study of functional genomics, the discovery of drug targets and even the treatment of human diseases. A lot of genes have been identified to be dys-regulated in cancers by large-scale screening experiments. RNAi has remarkably accelerated the delineation of the exact functions of each gene in disease progression. In this presentation, we briefly describe our work on RNAi and its application on functional genomics. We developed an inducible RNAi system for mammalian cells for the study of genes essential for cell growth. We developed a lentiviral RNAi system and combined this platform with proteomics approaches for gene functional analysis and identification of drug targets. We are also studying the function of microRNAs implicated in carcinogenesis. The application of siRNA as potential therapeutic agents for the treatment of human diseases will also be discussed.
