Sara Luzzi

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Sara Luzzi

Sara Luzzi

@luzzi_s

Faculty Fellow at Newcastle University. Trying to catch bad RNAs in cancer and cardiovascular disease. She/her. Bluesky: https://t.co/ZH9KxOLq9S

Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Katılım Mart 2020
519 Takip Edilen508 Takipçiler
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Sara Luzzi
Sara Luzzi@luzzi_s·
Some exciting news: I'll be starting a position as Faculty Fellow here in Newcastle in January 2025! The lab will be studying #transcription and #RNA processing in #cardiooncology. More updates to come in the next few months so stay tuned🤓
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Niko McCarty.
Niko McCarty.@NikoMcCarty·
A new paper in Cell shows that it is possible (simple, really) to convert DNA-editing CRISPR proteins, such as Cas9, into RNA editors. All you have to do is delete a chunk of them. Deleting 55 amino acids from a DNA editor called IscB (the ancestor of Cas9) turned it into a “robust and versatile” RNA-guided RNA editor in human cells. This modified protein was used to cut mRNAs, knockdown gene expression levels, and even make an A-to-I base editor for RNA. There are existing RNA-editing proteins, of course, with Cas13 being the most commonly used. Cas13 uses a short snippet of RNA to seek out, and then cut, target RNA molecules. But it also has a major problem: After it cuts its target RNA, Cas13 causes “collateral damage” by also randomly chopping up nearby, bystander mRNAs. This is toxic to bacterial and mammalian cells. So in this paper, the authors deleted a part of the IscB protein (called the target-adjacent motif interaction domain, stretching from amino acids 433-487), which is normally responsible for its grabbing tightly onto DNA. And that deletion alone converted this protein into an RNA editor. The reason this works is because IscB naturally grabs onto both DNA and RNA, but is heavily biased toward DNA. So this deletion just removes its ability to grab onto DNA, thus biasing it to RNA. The resulting RNA editor is not only “more active than Cas13,” according to the paper, but it also “has no discernible cytotoxicity in human cells.” The author also show that the same exact approach works for other Cas proteins, including Cas9. Lots of gene editors can be converted into RNA editors, in other words. Good paper. Gene editors are even more versatile than we appreciated.
Niko McCarty. tweet mediaNiko McCarty. tweet media
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Sara Luzzi
Sara Luzzi@luzzi_s·
Transcription and Chromatin UK is back! This time in Manchester, 17-19 September. Send your abstract by 17th July for the opportunity to discuss your work with the UK RNA and epigenetics community, and with leading experts from abroad. Click the link below and spread the word!
Biochemical Society@BiochemSoc

Registration for Transcription and Chromatin UK is OPEN! Taking place 17-19 September 2025, this conference will showcase cutting-edge research and is a ‘mustattend’ for anyone within the transcription and epigenetics community. Register now: ow.ly/7QQb50W9Alo

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Davide Ruggero
Davide Ruggero@RuggeroDavide·
Happy to share our new work with @haognguyen on targeting mRNA translation of oncogenes by RNA structure remodeling with a small molecule zotatifin. Congrats to ⁦@DuyguKuzuoglu⁩ an amazing postdoc and all the authors and collaborators! cell.com/cancer-cell/fu…
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Claudia Schneider
Claudia Schneider@CSchneiderNCL·
We have a 4 year PhD position available to study the impact of the RNA exosome on ribosome specialisation! Get in touch if you are interested or just apply. March 31st deadline. findaphd.com/phds/project/t…
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Penne Amiche della Scienza
Penne Amiche della Scienza@PenneAmiche·
💡 Oggi è la Giornata Internazionale delle Donne e delle Ragazze nella Scienza 👩‍🔬Solo il 33% dei laureati STEM è donna e il divario cresce lungo la carriera 🌏Il 72% delle partecipanti al nostro progetto sono donne e mostrano alle classi che le scienziate sono protagoniste
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Faraz K Mardakheh
Faraz K Mardakheh@FKHM·
I don’t post here much anymore, but this one is an important announcement for us: 🚨We are Recruiting! So come join us! 🚨#RNA #CancerResearch
Faraz K Mardakheh tweet media
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Sonia
Sonia@srochaliv·
Delighted to finally share our latest preprint on the role of NF-kappaB in hypoxia. Quite a few surprises!! biorxiv.org/content/10.110… Have a look!
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Ayushi
Ayushi@Ayushi_IISER·
@luzzi_s Hii, Is the position open to international applicants?
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Sara Luzzi
Sara Luzzi@luzzi_s·
Interested in RNA biology, cancer or vascular research? I have a position open for either a research assistant or a new postdoc to start expanding the fast-growing research area of cardio-oncology! Apply here: jobs.ncl.ac.uk/job/Newcastle-… Happy to have informal chats! Please share 🧬.
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Domenico Libri
Domenico Libri@DomenicoLibri·
. Here: Everything you always wanted to know about Sen1 (but were afraid to dig through papers for...) Here: doi.org/10.1016/j.jmb.…
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