Raghu Chivukula
Year entered program
2007 (MD/PhD)
Undergraduate institution
Johns Hopkins University
Preceptor
Josh Mendell
Thesis Project
Over the past decade, a number of investigators have demonstrated that a class of small RNAs termed microRNAs (miRNAs) are important regulators of gene expression in diverse contexts including proliferation, differentiation, and apoptosis. The Mendell Lab is specifically interested in exploring the role of miRNAs in cancer, where it is becoming increasingly evident that these RNAs may act as oncogenes and tumor suppressors. My thesis work will further these studies by examining the roles of putative tumor suppressor miRNAs in vitro and in vivo. This work will help to better elucidate the roles of miRNAs in tumorigenesis and to explore their utility as potential cancer therapies.
Publications
- Kota J, Chivukula RR, O'Donnell KA, Wentzel EA, Montgomery CL, Hwang HW, Chang TC, Vivekanandan P, Torbenson M, Clark KR, Mendell JR, Mendell JT. Therapeutic microRNA delivery suppresses tumorigenesis in a murine liver cancer model. Cell. 2009 Jun 12;137(6):1005-17.
- Chivukula RR, Mendell JT. Abate and switch: miR-145 in stem cell differentiation. Cell. 2009 May 15;137(4):606-8.
- Chang TC, Zeitels LR, Hwang HW, Chivukula RR, Wentzel EA, Dews M, Jung J, Gao P, Dang CV, Beer MA, Thomas-Tikhonenko A, Mendell JT. Lin-28B transactivation is necessary for Myc-mediated let-7 repression and proliferation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 Mar 3;106(9):3384-9.
- Chivukula RR, Mendell JT. Circular reasoning: microRNAs and cell-cycle control. Trends Biochem Sci. 2008 Oct;33(10):474-81.
Presentations
- Therapeutic microRNA replacement in a murine liver cancer model. 4th Microsymposium on Small RNAs.
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