Welcome to the Xing Laboratory of RNA Genomics and Bioinformatics!
We are in the Department of Internal Medicine and Department of Biomedical Engineering at University of Iowa. We are also affliated with the Ph.D. programs in Genetics and Biosciences.
Current Research Topics:
Our group works on the regulation and evolution of mammalian gene expression, in particular at the RNA level. We develop computational methods for the analysis and integration of high-throughput genomic data. A major goal of our research is to understand particular biological systems and diseases using genomics and bioinformatics. We are working closely with collaborators in the study of cancer, stem cell biology and neuroscience.
(1) Pre-mRNA splicing and alternative splicing
Alternative splicing is a major source of transcript and protein diversity in higher eukaryotes. During the splicing of precursor mRNAs, alternative choices of exons and splice sites can produce different mRNA and protein isoforms from a single gene. In the last decade, genomic data indicate that pre-mRNA alternative splicing is widespread in human and many other genomes. This has fascinating implications for the understanding of gene regulation and many human diseases. We develop bioinformatic tools to discover novel alternative splicing events from sequence and microarray data. We use these data to study pre-mRNA alternative splicing at functional, regulatory and evolutionary levels. We are also interested in the discovery and characterization of disease mutations that disrupt pre-mRNA splicing.
(2) New tool for microarray analysis
We develop computational tools for microarray data analysis. We are currently working on probe-level analyses of Affymetrix Exon arrays. The Exon array is a high-density expression microarray platform, with over six million probes targeting all annotated and predicted exons in a mammalian genome. This "probe-rich" design represents a very promising approach for genome-wide profiling of pre-mRNA alternative splicing. We are developing statistical methods for gene-level and exon-level analyses of Exon arrays. We are also using the Exon array platform for global analysis of alternative splicing during development, cellular signaling events and in human neurological diseases.
(3) Comparative genomics
Our laboratory has a broad interest in comparative and evolutionary genomics. We study genome evolution using combined genomic, bioinformatic and experimental approaches. We are particularly interested in the evolutionary origin and regulatory impact of species-specific coding and non-coding RNA sequences.