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UID:20260526T192153EDT-7682zVXIg5@132.216.98.100
DTSTAMP:20260526T232153Z
DESCRIPTION:Abstract:\n\nPh.D. work at McGill University\n\nPart of my PhD 
 research focused on telomeric DNA sequences with tandem G- and C-rich repe
 ats that fold into G-quadruplex (G4) and i-motif structures\, respectively
 . While G4 structures likely play a role in transcriptional regulation and
  telomere maintenance\, less is known about the role of i-motif structures
  in biological processes since they exhibit little thermodynamic stability
  at physiological conditions. We introduced 2'-fluoroarabinose and 5-methy
 lcytosine modifications into C-rich telomeric sequences and observed stabl
 e i-motifs at pH values close to neutrality (1\, 2). Remarkably\, the fluo
 roarabinose substitutions “trapped” telomeric G4 and i-motif structures pr
 eventing their re-association to form a duplex\, hence demonstrating that 
 these structures can co-exist within telomeric DNA (3). The stabilization 
 of DNA i-motif via chemical modifications will pave the way to examine the
  effect of i-motifs on telomerase activity\, discover small molecule ligan
 ds and proteins that bind these structures under physiological conditions\
 , and develop i-motif-based nanodevices.\n\n\n	Abou Assi\, Damha et al.\, N
 ucleic Acids Research\, 2016\, 44\, 4998-5009.\n	Abou Assi\, Damha et al.\,
  Chemistry European Journal\, 2018\, 24\, 471-477.\n	Abou Assi\, Damha et a
 l.\, Nucleic Acids Research\, 2017\, 45\, 11535-11546.\n\n\nPostdoctoral w
 ork at Duke University\n\nLike DNA and proteins\, RNA is subject to a numb
 er of modifications\, termed post-transcriptional or epitranscriptomic mod
 ifications\, which recently emerged as critical regulators of gene express
 ion. More than 100 epitranscriptomic modifications have been characterized
  to date and are abun­dant in mRNA and lncRNA\, influencing their fate and
  function. My postdoctoral work aims to determine whether epitranscriptomi
 c modifications have the potential to trap transient short-lived low-abund
 ance RNA excited states (ESs) known to form by reshuffling base pairs in a
 nd around non-canonical motifs. This entails high-resolution structural de
 termination of ESs via NMR relaxation dispersion (RD) experiments and eval
 uating the consequences of trapping ESs on fundamental biological processe
 s.\n\nBio:\n\nI pursued my undergraduate studies in Chemistry at the Ameri
 can University of Beirut in Lebanon. Then I did my Ph.D. in the McGill Che
 mistry Department\, in the laboratory of Prof. Masad Damha\, with a resear
 ch focus on characterizing structures relevant to telomere biology. Curren
 tly I am a postdoctoral fellow at Duke University under the joint supervis
 ion of Drs. Hashim Al-Hashimi and Christopher Holley where I am studying t
 he effect of epitranscriptomic modifications on RNA structural dynamics an
 d biological function.\n
DTSTART:20190109T200000Z
DTEND:20190109T200000Z
LOCATION:Room 10\, Maass Chemistry Building\, CA\, QC\, Montreal\, H3A 0B8\
 , 801 rue Sherbrooke Ouest
SUMMARY:The 2019 Winkler Award Lecture: Hala Abou Assi - Investigating the 
 Impact of Chemical Modifications on Nucleic Acid Structure and Dynamics
URL:https://www.mcgill.ca/chemistry/channels/event/2019-winkler-award-lectu
 re-hala-abou-assi-investigating-impact-chemical-modifications-nucleic-acid
 -293052
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