Washington University in St Louis · BiologyMosammaparast DNA Lab
Nima Mosammaparast · Saint Louis, Missouri
Research Focus
Dr. Nima Mosammaparast's lab at Washington University focuses on understanding how damage to RNA can lead to serious problems with genome stability in cells. Specifically, they investigate a newly discovered pathway where injured RNA causes DNA breaks, potentially leading to genetic disorders or cancer. The lab aims to uncover the factors that recognize and repair these RNA-induced DNA breaks to enhance our understanding of cellular responses to damage.
genome stabilityRNA damageDNA breaksmethylationR-loopsDNA repairgenomic integrityalkylating agentsRNA-binding proteins
Research Aims
5AIM 01Identify the types of RNA modifications that activate RNA damage-induced DNA breaks.
AIM 02Study the structure of DNA breaks caused by RNA damage.
AIM 03Investigate the nucleases responsible for processing RNA-induced DNA breaks.
AIM 04Demonstrate how YTHDC1 and THOC help resolve damage to nascent RNA in the context of R-loops.
AIM 05Understand the mechanisms involved in repairing DNA breaks caused by RNA damage.
Skills the Lab Values
cell culturebiochemical assaysRNA extractionWestern blottingCRISPRmass spectrometryfluorescence microscopygenomic sequencingnucleic acid purification
Output against the department
Publications188top 34% of dept.353rd of 1,033
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations7.9ktop 47% of dept.485th of 1,033
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.