Sheng, Jia - University at Albany-SUNY - Department of Chemistry

个人简介

Ph.D. Georgia State University Postdoc. Harvard Medical School/Massachusetts General Hospital

研究领域

Our lab is interested in the structural and functional studies of naturally occurring modifications in nucleic acid, the most important biological macromolecules. The diversified chemical modifications discovered in DNA and RNA (including tRNA, mRNA, rRNA and all the other non-coding RNAs) play critical biological roles and are directly related to many diseases. We hope the atomic-level understanding of their 3D structures and their metabolic pathways will lead to better elucidation of their functions and shed light on the potential drug discovery based on them. In addition, these modifications are the most evolutionarily conserved properties in the early stage of cellular life, providing important clues to study the prebiotic chemistry and the origin of life. We are also interested in developing novel RNA based catalysts for organic reactions and studying their catalytic mechanisms. Hybrid catalysis, which combines the high efficiency of active transition metals and the high chirality of biopolymer scaffolds (protein, DNA and RNA), represents a new generation of catalytic strategy. These scaffolds can transfer their chirality and promote a transformation with good enantioselectivity. Based on the ‘RNA World Hypothesis’ and the beautiful homochirality of life, most likely it’s RNA that originated the chiral transformation in the early stage of life. Comparing to DNA and protein, RNA can fold into more diversified structures that can dynamically bind and activate the substrates, meaning that RNA can play more roles than merely the chiral scaffolds. By optimizing both RNA and metal ligands, we are trying to develop some high efficient catalysts for general organic reactions. To achieve these goals, we use multidisciplinary research approaches and techniques that include organic synthesis, biophysics, biochemistry and structure biology.

近期论文

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Sheng J, Larsen A, Heuberger B D, Blain J C, Szostak J W. Crystal Structure Studies of RNA Duplexes Containing S2U:A and S2U:U Base Pairs. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 13916-13924. Sheng J, Li L, Engelhart A E, Gan J, Wang J, Szostak J W. Structural Insights into the Effects of 2’-5’ linkages on the RNA Duplex. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A, 2014, 111, 3050-3055. Sheng J, Gan J, Huang Z. Structure-Based DNA-Targeting Strategies with Small Molecule Ligands for Drug Discovery. Medicinal Research Reviews, 2013, 33, 1119-1173. Sheng J, Gan, J, Soares, A, Salon, J, Huang Z. Structural Insights of Non-canonical U-U Pair and Hoogsteen Interaction Probed with Se Atom. Nucleic Acids Research, 2013, 41, 10476-10487. Sheng J, Zhang W, Hassan A, Gan J, Soares A, Geng S, Ren Y, Huang Z. Hydrogen Bond Formation between the Naturally Modified Nucleobase and Phosphate Backbone. Nucleic Acids Research, 2012, 40, 8111-8118. Sheng J, Huang Z. Selenium Derivatization of Nucleic Acids for X-ray Crystal-Structure and Function Studies", Chemistry and Biology of Artificial Nucleic Acids, 2012, 329-361. Sun H, Sheng J, Hassan A, Jiang S, Gan J, Huang Z. Novel RNA Base Pair with Higher Specificity Using Single Selenium Atom. Nucleic Acids Research, 2012, 40, 5171–5179. Zhang W, Sheng J, Hassan A, Huang Z. Synthesis of novel 2’-Deoxy-5-(Methylselenyl)Cytidine and Se-DNAs for Structure and Function Studies. Chemistry-An Asian Journal, 2012, 7, 476-479. Jiang S, Sheng J, Huang Z. Synthesis of the Tellurium-Derivatized Phosphoramidites and their Incorporation into DNA Oligonucleotides. Current Protocols in Nucleic Acid, 2012, 1.25.1-1.25.16 Sheng J, Hassan A, Zhang W, Zhou J, Xu B, Soares A, Huang Z. Synthesis, structure and imaging of oligodeoxyribonucleotides with tellurium-nucleobase derivatization. Nucleic Acids Research, 2011, 39, 3962-3971. Lin L, Sheng J, Huang Z. "Nucleic Acid X-ray Crystallography via Direct Selenium Derivatization", Chemical Society Reviews, 2011, 40, 4591. Dai C, Wang L, Sheng J, Peng H, Draganov A, Huang Z, Wang B. The First Chemical Synthesis of Boronic Acid-modified DNA through Copper-free Click Reaction. Chemical Communications, 2011, 47, 3598-3600. Zhang W, Sheng J, Huang Z. Structures and Functions of Nucleic Acids Modified with S, Se and Te and Complexed with Small Molecules. Medicinal Chemistry of Nucleic Acids, 2011, 101-141. Gan J, Sheng J, Huang Z. Chemical and Structural Biology of Nucleic Acids and Protein-nuclei Acid Complexes for Novel Drug Discovery. Science in China B: Chemistry, 2011, 54 (1), 3-23. Lin L, Williams J, Kaur M, Patino A, Sheng J, Punetha J, Huang Z. Facile Synthesis of Nucleoside 5’-(α-P-seleno)-triphosphates and Phosphoroselenoate RNA Transcription", RNA, 2011, 17, 1932-1938. Sheng J, Salon J, Gan J, Huang Z. Synthesis and Crystal Structure Study of 2’-Se-adenosine Derivatized DNA. Science in China B: Chemistry, 2010, 53(1), 78-85. Hassan A, Sheng J, Zhang W, Huang Z. High Fidelity of Base Paring by 2-Selenothymidine in DNA. Journal of American Chemical Society, 2010, 132, 2120-2121. Salon J, Sheng J, Gan J, Huang Z. Synthesis and Crystal Structure of 2’-Se-modified Guanosine Containing DNA. The Journal of Organic Chemistry, 2010, 75, 637-641. Sheng J, Huang Z. Selenium Derivatization of Nucleic Acids for Structure and Function Studies, Chemistry and Biodiversity, 2010, 7, 753-785. Sheng J, Hassan A, Huang Z. Synthesis of the First Tellurium-Derivatized Oligonucleotides for Structural and Functional Studies. Chemistry—A European Journal, 2009, 15 (39), 10210-10216.