2019 Fiscal Year Annual Research Report
Generation and characterization of animal models deficient in RNA methylation.
| Project/Area Number |
17H06257
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Research Institution | Kyoto University |
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Principal Investigator |
FUSTIN JM 京都大学, 薬学研究科, 准教授 (50711818)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2017-06-30 – 2021-03-31
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| Keywords | circadian / methylation / organ-on-a-chip |
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| Outline of Annual Research Achievements |
Experiments with animals genetically deficient in methylation or in which methylations have been pharmacologically inhibited have progressed well, although the high inter-individual variability between animals and poor conditions in our department's animal house has so far prevented us to obtain publication-level results with genetically deficient animals.
Nevertheless, pharmacological studies in multiple organisms, in intercontinental collaboration with many laboratories have progressed very well and a new paper titled "Methylation deficiency disrupts biological rhythms from bacteria to humans" has been published in a Nature journal on the 6th of May (Fustin et al., 2020), with two other publications this year (Doi et al., 2019; Fustin et al., 2019)
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| Current Status of Research Progress |
Current Status of Research Progress
2: Research has progressed on the whole more than it was originally planned.
Reason
We are continuing the research described in the project but have experiences some delays because of the COVID-19 crisis. Moreover, I have relocated to the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom and will continue my experiments there. It will take time to set my laboratory up and start experiments with newly generated animal models. It is my hope that the high-quality of animal house at the University of Manchester compared to that at Kyoto University Pharmaceutical Science Department will allow me to study methylation deficient animals more reliably. Indeed, these animals are likely to be immunocompromised and need therefore a very clean environment.
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| Strategy for Future Research Activity |
I plan to continue the research described in the project as well as start new investigations related to methyl metabolism. However, since these experiments are going to be done in the United Kingdom I do not want to disclose my plans here.
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