Molecular mechanism of long non-coding RNAs during cardiomyocyte differentiation

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Shizuka Uchida, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Cardiology, Angiology ; Bioinformatics and Theoretical Biology
• Term: from 2014 to 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 256131242

Recent evidences suggest that over 98% of RNAs generated in a mammalian genome do not encode proteins, which include the so called "non-coding RNAs" (ncRNAs). There are different classes of ncRNAs defined in the field of transcriptomics, whose classifications are based on the physical properties (i.e. length of nucleotides, distance to a known gene). The annotations of such ncRNAs are rather limited due to the lack of their defined functionalities. The proposed research plan aims at elucidating the functions of ncRNAs during the cardiomyocyte differentiation process of stem cells using bioinformatics and molecular biology techniques.The identification of novel ncRNAs in cardiac differentiation may eventually lead to annotate such ncRNAs and provide a better understanding of transcriptomes. The long term goal of this project is to better understand the epigenetic control of cardiac differentiation and to propose a better way to differentiate stem cells into functional cardiomyocytes for the purpose of regenerative medicine.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants