Grant: Canada Research Chairs

Sequencing of whole genomes represented an unprecedented step in the understanding of an organism’s molecular identity. Unexpectedly, over the past two decades, the scientific community discovered that in mammals, non-coding genes are much more numerous than anticipated. The finality of non-coding genes is not to encode proteins, as is the case for most well characterized genes, but rather to produce RNAs that play regulatory roles in their RNA form. However, the set of non-coding genes is still being discovered and functionally characterized. Importantly, we now know that just as changes in the regulation of coding genes can cause disease, the same is true for non-coding genes. The objective of the Canada Research Chair in Bioinformatics of Non-coding RNA is to better understand the contribution of non-coding RNAs to cell function in health and disease. To reach that goal, three main projects will be developed: 1) Large-scale annotation of non-coding genes and cross-species comparison. Non-coding RNAs can be difficult to study using standard tools due to their complex folded structures, multiple copies in genomes and overlap with other genes. To improve genomic annotations, my group will produce large-scale sequencing datasets and computational tools adapted to these features, applying them first in human and then in other species. 2) Functional analysis of small nucleolar RNAs (snoRNAs). Recent years have provided strong evidence of diverse roles in gene expression regulation for a small number of snoRNAs. My group will study this class of non-coding RNAs in a large-scale manner through the integration of diverse sequencing datasets, using bioinformatics and machine learning approaches across different species. 3) Large-scale profiling of RNAs under disease states. The consideration of all RNAs including diverse non-coding RNAs has the potential to open many new doors for the understanding, early detection and treatment of diseases. Through several collaborations, we are using our expertise in non-coding RNA bioinformatics to profile RNAs in pathologies including ovarian cancer, glioblastoma and rheumatoid arthritis. At the intersection of molecular, health and computer sciences, this research program will considerably improve non-coding RNA understanding across species, enabling their evolutionary, regulatory and functional analysis. This in turn will provide a clearer picture of their cellular roles in health and disease.