报告人：鲁志教授 清华大学生命科学院

题目：Finding Novel exRNA Biomarkers for the Liquid Biopsy of Cancer

时间：2019年12月18日下午2:00

地点：生科大楼报告厅

主持人：王泽峰研究员，计算生物学重点实验室

报告人简介：鲁志博士，清华大学生命科学学院研究员，博士生导师，“生物信息学”教育部重点实验室副主任，国家“优秀青年”基金和“霍英东”青年基金获得者。2003年获中国科学技术大学生命学院学士学位，2008年获美国罗切斯特大学的生物物理学博士学位，2008-2010年在耶鲁大学从事生物信息学的博士后研究, 2011年加入清华大学建立生物信息学实验室。鲁志博士的实验室主要从事跟非编码RNA有关的生物信息学研究，包括（1）RNA调控和（2）精准医疗两个重点方向。发表在国际重要期刊文章50余篇（Science, Cell Research, Genome Biology, Nature Communications, NAR等），总引用超过10000次。其中以通讯作者身份发表的20余篇（影响因子超过10的11篇）。曾获清华大学“学术新人奖”，入选教育部“新世纪人才计划”，入选清华大学“221基础研究青年人才”计划。

Abstract：Recent genomic studies suggest that potential novel long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) are specifically expressed and far outnumber annotated ncRNA sequences. To identify and characterize novel lncRNAs in sequencing data from new samples, we have developed a bioinformatics software package (http://software.ncrnalab.org) that includes 3 modules: RNAfinder, RNAstructurome and RNAtarget. We have applied them to many biological (i.e., plant) and medical (i.e., cancer) applications. For instance, based on RNAfinder, we have identified ~8K novel lncRNAs in HCC (liver cancer) samples. Many of them were further validated as metastasis associated lncRNA biomarkers.

Currently, the main research focus of our lab is to identify and study novel extra-cellular RNA (exRNA) biomarkers in bio-fluids associated with tumorigenesis and cancer development, using machine learning (AI) approaches and high-throughput sequencing technologies. By analyzing dynamic expression and variants, we hope to find novel exRNA species related to tumorigenesis and/or cancer progression from cell-free plasma/serum, micro-vesicles, exosomes, and RNPs. The identified exRNA biomarkers are applied to the most lethal cancer in China. Finally, we will deliver an accurate, reproducible and robust method for cancer early diagnosis and/or prognosis.