Eric Simko

Background

About Eric Simko

NIH postdoc dissecting the regulation of mRNA turnover at the molecular level. Currently reconstituting the mRNA degradation machinery in vitro to better understand how gene expression is regulated at the biochemical level in health and disease. Prior to this, my PhD work at Johns Hopkins aimed to understand the genetic basis of neurodegenerative diseases like ALS and dementia. While contributing to several studies on the production and pathological effects of a highly-structured toxic RNA species, I noted structural similarities between these toxic RNAs and native/homeostatic long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). Intrigued by this observation I conceived and led an exploratory study focused on the lncRNA NEAT1, as expression of this RNA is altered in several cancers and neurological diseases. I went on to discover that the NEAT1 lncRNA contains large regions enriched in G-quadruplex structures and that these structures are recognized by transcription and splicing factors. Moving the study into a cellular context, I found that unfolding these RNA structures by administering a small molecule disrupts the downstream assembly of nuclear organelles which regulate transcription and mRNA export in a rapid cellular stress response.