Penn Biologist Studies Mysterious lncRNA Molecules with NSF Award

DNA is widely thought of as the building block of life. But what about RNA, its lesser-known counterpart?

In a research project expected to take four years, Assistant Professor of Biology Brian Gregory will investigate the true nature of a class of mysterious RNA molecules known as lncRNA. "We hope to gain a greater understanding of this potentially important class of molecules, their biology, and their function in the cell nucleus," he says.

With an award of more than $2.5 million from the National Science Foundation’s Plant Genome Research Program, Gregory will join two scientists from the University of Arizona. He plans to use a new technique developed in his lab called PIP-seq to isolate lncRNA molecules from the nuclei of plant cells and to visualize genetic material that has never been observed.

Read the full story here.