缅北轮奸

Seminar Abstract: RNA is far more than a passive messenger that carries genetic information for protein synthesis. It plays active roles in regulating transcription, translation, and cellular function. Much of this RNA-centred regulation is mediated by RNA modifications, which alter the chemical structures of RNA nucleotides and influence RNA behaviour.

My research focuses on understanding how different RNA modifications affect cellular processes, from RNA stability to cell survival. One of the most abundant RNA modifications is pseudouridine, which is found across multiple classes of RNA. Using tRNA as a model system, we discovered that although pseudouridine generally stabilises RNA structure, its effects are highly position-dependent and context-dependent. Not all pseudouridine residues contribute equally to RNA stability.

Interestingly, each pseudouridine site in tRNA is introduced by a distinct pseudouridine synthase. By combining structural biology approaches with transcriptome-wide RNA sequencing, we showed that pseudouridine deposition is determined by the unique ways in which individual pseudouridine synthases recognise their RNA substrates. These findings provide new insights into how RNA modifications are selectively installed and raise broader questions about their additional functional roles in cellular regulation and metabolism.

Biosketch: Dr Ting-Yu Lin is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biosciences at Durham University, specialising in RNA biology, RNA modifications and structural biochemistry.

She obtained her undergraduate degree in Medical Laboratory Science and Biotechnology from Taipei Medical University, Taiwan, before completing her PhD at National Taiwan University, where she investigated the anticancer properties of natural compounds. During her doctoral studies, she also spent a year at the City of Hope/Bachman Research Institute in California, expanding her expertise in RNA splicing.

Following her PhD, she undertook postdoctoral research at RIKEN in Japan, focusing on the biochemical and structural characterisation of DNA gyrases. She subsequently joined a Max Planck research group at the Ma?opolska Centre of Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Poland, where her research centred on the molecular mechanisms and structures of tRNA-modifying enzymes.

Her current research focuses on RNA modifications, particularly pseudouridylation, and the enzymes responsible for these modifications. Combining biochemistry, molecular biology and structural approaches, including cryo-electron microscopy, her work seeks to understand how RNA-modifying enzymes recognise their substrates and how defects in these processes contribute to human disease.

Her research has contributed to our understanding of the Elongator complex and pseudouridine synthase 3 (PUS3), including the molecular basis of tRNA recognition and the mechanisms linking PUS3 mutations to intellectual disability. Her work has been published in journals including Molecular Cell, Nature Communications, Science Advances and The EMBO Journal.

In 2025, Dr Lin was awarded a prestigious Academy of Medical Sciences Springboard Award to support her research into molecular mechanisms relevant to cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.