Yeo Lab

Degrees

Ph.D. Bioinformatics and Computational Biology, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 2017

B.S. Biochemistry, The University of Texas at Austin, 2012

Summary

I received my B.S. in biochemistry from the University of Texas at Austin, where I worked on Aptamer Selection in Andy Ellington’s lab. In graduate school I joined the lab of Alain Laederach at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where I began RNA secondary structure prediction and data analysis for experimental RNA structure probing data. I benchmarked a range of current structure prediction algorithms, defining the best practices and algorithms for predicting polymorphism-induced changes in mRNA secondary structure. I later studied the gene SERPINA1, developing a quantitative model integrating both upstream open reading frame and secondary structure data to predict the translation efficiency of its numerous transcripts. This work additionally suggested methods to control the protein expression of SERPINA1, whose deficiency is a major genetic cause of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Continuing with RNA secondary structure, I am currently working to define the structural binding preferences of RNA binding proteins (RBPs) and predict how this might affect their interactions with mRNAs of interest. This includes the ALS-related splicing factor hnRNPA2/B1 as well as the translation initiation factor eIF4E. Crucially, understanding how these RBPs change their mRNA interactions and the intersecting role of mRNA secondary structure will inform the changes in function evident for these RBPs in disease models.

Publications

Mustoe, A. M.; Corley, M. ; Laederach, A..; Weeks, K. M., Messenger RNA Structure Regulates Translation Initiation: A Mechanism Exploited from Bacteria to Humans. Biochemistry, 2018, In press.

Corley, M.; Solem, A.; Phillips, G.; Lackey, L.; Ziehr, B.; Vincent, H. A.; Mustoe, A. M.; Ramos, S. B. V.; Weeks, K. M.; Moorman, N. J.; Laederach, A., An RNA structure-mediated, posttranscriptional model of human alpha-1-antitrypsin expression. Proc Natl Acad Sci 2017,114 (47), E10244-E10253.

Corley, M.; Laderach, A., Selecting against accidental RNA interactions. Elife 2016, 5.

Corley, M.; Solem, A.; Qu, K.; Chang, H. Y.; Laederach, A., Detecting riboSNitches with RNA folding algorithms: a genome-wide benchmark. Nucleic Acids Res 2015,43 (3), 1859-68.