Neuro-Oncololgy Advances: The effects of palbociclib in combination with radiation in preclinical models of aggressive meningioma (Houghton)

August 4, 2021

Craig Horbinski, Guifa Xi, Yufen Wang, Rintaro Hashizume, Mahesh Gopalakrishnan, Joanna J Phillips, Peter Houghton, Charles D James, John A Kalapurakal Abstract Background Meningiomas are the most common tumor arising within the cranium of adults. Despite surgical resection and radiotherapy, many meningiomas invade the brain, and many recur, often repeatedly. To date, no chemotherapy has proven effective against such tumors. Thus, there is […]


MSystems: Identification of a GrgA-Euo-HrcA Transcriptional Regulatory Network in Chlamydia (Lai Lab)

August 4, 2021

Wurihan Wurihan , Yi Zou, Alec M. Weber, Korri Weldon, Yehong Huang, Xiaofeng Bao, Chengsheng Zhu, Xiang Wu, Yaqun Wang, Zhao Lai, and Huizhou Fan  ABSTRACT Chlamydia trachomatis is an obligate intracellular bacterium whose unique developmental cycle consists of an infectious elementary body and a replicative reticulate body. Progression of this developmental cycle requires temporal control of the transcriptome. In addition to the three chlamydial sigma factors (σ66, σ28, and σ54) that recognize promoter sequences of […]


Yogesh Gupta Awarded, 5-year $3.0 million R01 NIH/NIAID Grant to Support His SARS-CoV-2 and RNA Methylation Work.

July 29, 2021

Dr. Yogesh Gupta was awarded a 5-year $3.0 million R01 NIH/NIAID (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) grant to support his SARS-CoV-2 and RNA methylation work. ABSTRACT The massive global pandemic with high morbidity and mortality makes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus-2  (SARS-CoV-2) one of the deadliest viruses in recent history. It is especially noteworthy for hijacking the normal operations of […]


Science Advances: Regulation of telomere homeostasis and genomic stability in cancer by N6-adenosine methylation (m6A) (Rao & Zheng Labs)

July 29, 2021

View ORCID ProfileJi Hoon Lee1,†, View ORCID ProfileJuyeong Hong1,†, View ORCID ProfileZhao Zhang1,†, View ORCID ProfileBárbara de la Peña Avalos2,3, View ORCID ProfileCecilia J. Proietti4, View ORCID ProfileAgustina Roldán Deamicis4, View ORCID ProfilePablo Guzmán G.5, Hung-Ming Lam6, Jose Garcia6, Martine P. Roudier6, View ORCID ProfileAnthony E. Sisk7, View ORCID ProfileRichard De La Rosa1, View ORCID ProfileKevin Vu8, Mei Yang1, Yiji Liao1, View ORCID ProfileJessica Scheirer1, View ORCID ProfileDouglas Pechacek1, Pooja Yadav9,10, View ORCID […]



Scientific Reports: A comprehensive meta-analysis and a case–control study give insights into genetic susceptibility of lung cancer and subgroups (Bishop Lab)

July 19, 2021

Debmalya Sengupta, Souradeep Banerjee, Pramiti Mukhopadhyay (Bishop Lab)  Ritabrata Mitra, Tamohan Chaudhuri, Abhijit Sarkar, Gautam Bhattacharjee, Somsubhra Nath, Susanta Roychoudhury, Samsiddhi Bhattacharjee & Mainak Sengupta Abstract Reports of genetic association of polymorphisms with lung cancer in the Indian subcontinent are often conflicting. To summarise and replicate published evidence for association with lung cancer and its subgroups. […]


eLife Sciences: Loss of MGA repression mediated by an atypical polycomb complex promotes tumor progression and invasiveness (Shiio Lab)

July 9, 2021

    Haritha Mathsyaraja,  Jonathen Catchpole,  Brian Freie,  Emily Eastwood,  Ekaterina Babaeva,  Michael Geuenich,  Pei Feng Cheng,  Jessica Ayers,  Ming Yu,  Nan Wu,  Sitapriya Moorthi,  Kumud R Poudel,  Amanda Koehne,  William Grady,  A McGarry Houghton,  Alice H Berger,  Yuzuru Shiio,  David MacPherson   Robert N Eisenman Abstract MGA, a transcription factor and member of the […]


Cell Reports: NELL2-cdc42 signaling regulates BAF complexes and Ewing sarcoma cell growthNELL2-cdc42 signaling regulates BAF complexes and Ewing sarcoma cell growth (Shiio, Houghton)

July 8, 2021

Panneerselvam Jayabal1, Fuchun Zhou1, Xiufen Lei1, XiuyeMa1, Barron Blackman1, Susan T.Weintraub23, Peter J.Houghton134, YuzuruShiio1235 Highlights • The autocrine signaling mediated by NELL2 maintains Ewing sarcoma cell growth • NELL2 signaling inhibits cdc42 and enhances EWS-FLI1 transcriptional output • NELL2-cdc42 signaling regulates the assembly and the stability of BAF complexes • Ewing sarcoma harbors cell populations […]


Dr. Houghton Co-Authors MDPI paper, “Dihydroartemisinin Inhibits mTORC1 Signaling by Activating the AMPK Pathway in Rhabdomyosarcoma Tumor Cells

July 2, 2021

Authored by: Jun Luo, Yoshinobu Odaka, Zhu Huang, Bing Cheng, Wang Liu, Lin Li, Chaowei Shang, Chao Zhang, Yang Wu, Yan Luo, Shengyong Yang, Peter J. Houghton, Xiaofeng Guo, Shile Huang Abstract Dihydroartemisinin (DHA), an anti-malarial drug, has been shown to possess potent anticancer activity, partly by inhibiting the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) complex 1 (mTORC1) signaling. However, how DHA inhibits mTORC1 is still unknown. Here, [...]

Nature Communications: Structural basis of DNA synthesis opposite 8-oxoguanine by human PrimPol primase-polymerase (Gupta)

June 29, 2021

Olga Rechkoblit, Robert E. Johnson, Yogesh K. Gupta, Louise Prakash, Satya Prakash & Aneel K. Aggarwal Abstract PrimPol is a human DNA polymerase-primase that localizes to mitochondria and nucleus and bypasses the major oxidative lesion 7,8-dihydro-8-oxoguanine (oxoG) via translesion synthesis, in a mostly error-free manner. We present structures of PrimPol insertion complexes with a DNA template-primer and correct dCTP or erroneous […]