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Welcome to the Lu lab at USC.

Our research is focused on “RNA machines” in living cells. We develop and apply novel technologies to understand the structures, interactions, chemical modifications, and functions of RNA molecules in basic cellular processes and animal development, and invent new RNA therapeutics to treat human diseases, including genetic disorders, cancers and viral infections.

riseofthernamachines
Rise of the RNA Machines.

Recent highlights

We partially solved the decades-old orphan snoRNA problem, revealing >7000 snoRNA targets, including a global snoRNA-tRNA network. We discovered two snoRNAs that control eMet tRNA activity, loss of which dramatically speeds up cardiomyocyte differentiation (Zhang et al. 2023 PNAS). Highlighted by GenomeTDCC on Youtube. See beating “mini-hearts” in a dish below:

Contracting cardiomyocyte patches in a dish, from TC1 mouse embryonic stem cells.

We are hiring now!

Open positions for multiple PhD students and postdocs are available now, on several directions, including the analysis of RNA structures, interaction networks, RNA modification mechanisms, and their roles in development and disease. We integrate biological, chemical, and computational approaches to understand RNA biology and push forward RNA medicine. We are more than happy to support new ideas you bring, like the wild animals running in the African savannah!

Our vision of what research looks like (ignore the predator here :D).

Funding support

We are extremely thankful for all the financial and other types of support by these organizations over the years (part of which came from the hard-working taxpayers)!