Cermakova Lab
Principal Investigator: Katerina Cermakova
Institution: Baylor College of Medicine (Houston, TX)
Primary Subfield: Molecular & Cell Bio
Recruitment Status: ✅ Accepting PhD Students ✅ Hiring Postdocs
Research Focus
Project Summary Regulated export of RNA from the nucleus influences the stability, localization, and translation of nearly all cellular transcripts. Disruptions in RNA export are linked to neurodevelopmental disorders, neurodegeneration, and cancer, and several factors involved in RNA processing show promise as therapeutic targets. Although RNA export is strongly linked to transcriptional activity, the molecular mechanisms that link chromatin and transcriptional state to the recruitment, assembly, and spatial organization of the RNA export machinery are not fully understood. A major barrier to mechanistic insight is the unusually high abundance of intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs) in RNA export proteins. These flexible sequences evade conventional structural analyses but are increasingly recognized as key regulatory elements. As a result, the molecular and structural mechanisms by which IDRs in RNA export factors (1) ensure efficient export of highly transcribed genes, (2) facilitate the coordinated assembly of RNA export machinery, and (3) promote selective localization of RNA export factors into subnuclear foci remain to be elucidated. In preliminary studies, we uncovered a…
Active NIH Awards
- 1R35GM166295-01: A novel IDR-mediated interaction network linking chromatin state to RNA export (2026)
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