{"669206":{"#nid":"669206","#data":{"type":"news","title":"Karmella Haynes Leads Exploration of the Genome\u2019s Dark Regions","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EBy Jerry Grillo\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bme.gatech.edu\/bme\/faculty\/Karmella-Haynes\u0022\u003EKarmella Haynes\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;wants to shine some light on the \u201cdark matter\u201d of the genome, and the National Science Foundation (NSF) is helping her flip the switch.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHaynes, assistant professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering at Georgia Tech and Emory University, is leading a team of multi-disciplinary investigators who were awarded a four-year,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/awardsearch\/showAward?AWD_ID=2243665\u0026amp;HistoricalAwards=false\u0022\u003E$2.1 million grant from NSF\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;to explore this dark matter and illuminate how the genome controls living systems in all their diversity and complexity.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIt\u2019s large space to explore. Only two percent of the human genome is known to provide instructions to build proteins, a process essential to higher functioning life. This leaves 98 percent of the genome as a biological frontier known as dark matter \u2013 these segments do not encode for protein, like the other two percent.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cA lot of progress has been made in studying this part of the genome, but what we don\u2019t know yet can be very useful,\u201d said Haynes,\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/khayneslab.wordpress.com\/\u0022\u003Ewhose lab\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;works on the front line of synthetic biology, and is typically dedicated to protein engineering, including the investigation and design of chromatin-based systems for controlling gene expression in cancer and other cells.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EFor this project, funded through February 2027, Haynes is expanding her focus to include RNA engineering, noting that some of those dark regions of the genome can produce long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs). Usually found in very small amounts within a cell, lncRNAs have nonetheless been found to have an impact on biological processes like cell growth and survival, cell identity and environmental interactions, and various human and animal diseases.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cThe next step would be to tap into the biomedical and biotechnology potential of these RNAs,\u201d said Haynes, who is principal investigator on the multi-institutional project. Her co-principal investigators are\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/as.nyu.edu\/faculty\/alisha-jones.html\u0022\u003EAlisha Jones\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant professor of chemistry at New York University, and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/genetics\/directory\/keriayn-smith\/\u0022\u003EKeriayn Smith\u003C\/a\u003E, assistant professor of genetics at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. Joining them are Emory biochemist\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/winshipcancer.emory.edu\/bios\/faculty\/corbett-anita-h.html\u0022\u003EAnita Corbett\u003C\/a\u003E;\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/bcmb.utk.edu\/people\/faculty\/peoplefacultytian-hong\/\u0022\u003ETian Hong\u003C\/a\u003E, a computational biologist at the University of Tennessee; and\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/medschool.cuanschutz.edu\/biochemistry\/people\/primary-faculty\/johnson-aaron\u0022\u003EAaron Johnson\u003C\/a\u003E, a molecular geneticist at the University of Colorado.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003ETogether, they\u2019ll delve into the mysteries and mechanisms of lncRNA.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Ch4\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EInvestigators, Assemble!\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/h4\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EHaynes met her collaborators at an NSF Ideas Lab gathering in the summer of 2022. The program had an acronym that sounds like something borrowed from\u0026nbsp;\u003Cem\u003EStar Wars\u003C\/em\u003E, D2R2, which actually stands for\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nsf.gov\/pubs\/2022\/nsf22510\/nsf22510.htm\u0022\u003EDark Dimensions of the RNA Regulome\u003C\/a\u003E.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EIdeas Labs are intensive workshops facilitated by NSF with the intention of finding innovative solutions to grand challenges. D2R2 brought together engineers, chemists, mathematicians, computer scientists, and others with a goal of developing new theories and models for understanding non-coding RNAs, and new approaches for manipulating and controlling non-coding RNA activity.\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe all received a crash course on what the scientific community understands about all of this, then we got to work,\u201d said Haynes. Her two co-PIs, Jones and Smith, help comprise what Haynes believes is a unique leadership trifecta. \u201cI rarely hear of a large multi-institutional grant that is led by three black women. I think that is significant.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EAlso significant, she added, is the project\u2019s emphasis on outreach. Haynes and her team are working with students from\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/projectengages.gatech.edu\/\u0022\u003EProject ENGAGES\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;at Georgia Tech \u2013 a high school science education program in partnership with minority-serving public schools in Atlanta. The plan is to provide the students a focus presentation on RNA technology.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003EUltimately, Haynes hopes the NSF project will yield innovations that would enhance our ability to predict and mitigate the effects of changing environments on organisms and ecosystems \u2013 in other words, epigenetic control. If they can engineer lncRNAs to fine tune their activity, researchers should be able to generate beneficial biomolecules for biomedical applications.\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n\r\n\u003Cp\u003E\u201cWe expect at minimum to push the boundaries of knowledge by trying to build functional RNAs,\u201d Haynes said. \u201cBut if we could develop an effective tool for this kind of epigenetic control, that would be remarkable. This could have some exciting implications for bioengineering.\u201d\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","summary":"","format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003ENational Science Foundation supporting research into the mysteries and mechanisms of noncoding RNA\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"National Science Foundation supporting research into the mysteries and mechanisms of noncoding RNA "}],"uid":"28153","created_gmt":"2023-08-28 13:36:55","changed_gmt":"2023-08-31 14:12:19","author":"Jerry Grillo","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2023-08-28T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2023-08-28T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"671495":{"id":"671495","type":"image","title":"Karmella.jpg","body":null,"created":"1693229845","gmt_created":"2023-08-28 13:37:25","changed":"1693229845","gmt_changed":"2023-08-28 13:37:25","alt":"Karmella Haynes","file":{"fid":"254567","name":"Karmella.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/08\/28\/Karmella_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/2023\/08\/28\/Karmella_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":3611812,"path_740":"http:\/\/www.tlwarc.hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/2023\/08\/28\/Karmella_0.jpg?itok=JcjLO0Sy"}}},"media_ids":["671495"],"groups":[{"id":"1292","name":"Parker H. Petit Institute for Bioengineering and Bioscience (IBB)"},{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"},{"id":"1214","name":"News Room"}],"categories":[],"keywords":[{"id":"187915","name":"go-researchnews"},{"id":"187423","name":"go-bio"},{"id":"175395","name":"human genome"},{"id":"984","name":"RNA"},{"id":"41471","name":"Dark Matter"}],"core_research_areas":[{"id":"39441","name":"Bioengineering and Bioscience"}],"news_room_topics":[{"id":"71891","name":"Health and Medicine"}],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EWriter: \u003Ca href=\u0022jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu\u0022\u003EJerry Grillo\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\r\n","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["jerry.grillo@ibb.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}