The rockefeller university

Event Details

Type

Friday Lecture Series

Speaker(s)

Robert H. Singer, Ph.D., professor and co-chair, department of anatomy and structural biology, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Speaker bio(s)

Imaging has been instrumental in analyzing the dynamic properties of RNA. New technologies in optical microscopy and fluorescent probe development have been pushing the envelope of analysis capabilities and providing new insights into how the cell regulates mRNA. Dr. Singer's lab has been dedicated to developing and implementing these technologies to further the understanding of single mRNA dynamics in cells and tissues. In addition to FISH, they have utilized imaging approaches and RNA labeling to analyze real-time transcription activities of endogenous genes in yeast and mammalian cells, the export of these mRNAs from the nucleus, the localization and translation in the cytoplasm and the degradation of the mRNA. To do this, Dr. Singer's lab has employed a plethora of imaging methods, ranging from confocal and multiphoton microscopy, long-term cell imaging, high-speed real-time widefield microscopy, single molecule tracking, as well as developing super-registration microscopy and fluorescence fluctuation analysis. Mathematical modeling from image analysis has allowed the lab to extract quantitative kinetic parameters that precisely describe processes that regulate mRNA in living cells.

 

Dr. Singer received his undergraduate degree in physical chemistry from Oberlin College and his Ph.D. in developmental biology from Brandeis University. He did postdoctoral work in molecular biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Weizmann Institute in Israel. His career has been focused on the cell biology of RNA: its isolation, detection, expression and translation. A patented in situ hybridization technique his lab developed for detecting RNA in morphologically preserved cells revealed that messenger RNA can localize in specific cellular compartments. This work has given rise to the field of RNA transport and localization, enhanced by Dr. Singer's and his colleagues' development of imaging technology and RNA reporters. His lab has shown that the dynamics of RNA transcription on a single gene can be interrogated by live cell imaging, as well as by multiplexed fluorescent probes. In addition, Dr. Singer's laboratory has been instrumental in developing rapid and sensitive microscopy that can study single molecules of RNA in living cells and in devising methods to track them through their life cycle. This technology has implications for understanding of the role of RNA in disease processes such as cancer metastasis and mental retardation. He holds 12 patents on his work.

Open to

Public

Reception

Refreshments, 3:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., Abby Lounge

Contact

Gloria Phipps

Phone

(212) 327-8967

Sponsor

Gloria Phipps
(212) 327-8967
phippsg@rockefeller.edu