White, Robert - York University - Department of Biology

研究领域

The Biology of RNA polymerase III. RNA polymerase (pol) III transcribes DNA to produce an eclectic mix of short non-coding RNAs, such as tRNA. This transcription is highly regulated. Our research focuses on the molecular mechanisms and functional consequences of pol III regulation during cell differentiation, growth, proliferation and oncogenic transformation. We are engaged in a programme of synthetic bioengineering aimed at enhancing production of recombinant products by manipulating pol III activity. Recombinant monoclonal antibodies are a powerful class of therapeutics that are used to treat a wide range of diseases, including cancers and inflammatory disorders. However, they are expensive to produce and this restricts their availability to patients; health authorities sometimes cannot afford the costs of these therapies. Lowering production costs may increase access to potentially life-saving treatments. Through synthetic cell bioengineering, we are developing novel approaches to improve production of therapeutic proteins. One of our strategies is to manipulate tRNA expression to enhance translation of recombinant products, tailoring cells to match tRNA supply to specific demands. We aim to reduce costs and thereby increase availability to patients of therapeutics that are currently prohibitively expensive.

近期论文

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Fairley, J. A., Mitchell, L. E., Berg, T., Kenneth, N. S., von Schubert, C., Sillje, H. H. W., Medema, R. H., Nigg, E. A. and White, R. J. (2012) Direct regulation of tRNA and 5S rRNA gene transcription by Polo-like kinase 1. Mol. Cell 45, 541-552. Varshney, D., Vavrova-Anderson, J., Oler, A. J., Cowling, V. H., Cairns, B. R. and White, R. J. (2015) SINE transcription by RNA polymerase III is suppressed by histone methylation but not DNA methylation. Nature Comms. Doi: 10.1038/ncomms7569