Qingfei Zheng
Purdue University, IN·Biochemistry
Cells turn genes on and off partly by attaching small chemical tags to histones, the proteins that DNA wraps around. A recently found tag uses brain chemicals like serotonin and dopamine themselves.
- Fields
Biochemistry
Chemistry
Neuroscience
- Topics
histone monoaminylation
serotonylation
dopaminylation
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2028
What they work on
- Develop chemical probes that selectively label and enrich different histone monoaminylations, such as serotonylation and dopaminylation of histone H3 at glutamine 5 (H3Q5).
- Use these probes to identify new types of histone monoaminylation, especially those from gut microbiome-derived monoamines, in vitro and in vivo, and define their pathophysiological roles.
- Design photocrosslinker-containing monoaminylated peptides, which bond to nearby proteins when exposed to light, as baits to capture reader proteins, then validate their epigenetic functions.
- Characterize non-histone targets of monoaminylation, such as transcription factors, and their roles in chromatin biology using the chemical probes.
More about the research
It helps control gene activity in neurons, both during development and in the adult brain. Yet scientists know little about how this tag is removed or which proteins read it. This project builds chemical tools to answer those questions.
Why it matters
This tag links brain chemicals and gene control in neurons. Tools to study it could help explain how monoamine metabolism, from the body or from gut microbes, shapes brain function. Over time this could build new connections between neuroscience, epigenetics and psychology.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Marcey Waters
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC·Chemistry
Determine how amino acid sequence controls structure and self-assembly of coiled-coil peptides, rope-like bundles of protein helices, into nanospheres and fibrils, including the roles of positive and negative cooperativity.
Y. George Zheng
University of Georgia, GA·Biochemistry
Determine the molecular mechanisms and regulation of protein arginine methyltransferase (PRMT) activity, building on the lab's preliminary results.
Robert McGinty
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, NC·Biochemistry
Define how combinations of histone post-translational modifications recruit reader proteins across the proteome, using designer nucleosomes with chemically defined modification patterns in interactome screens.
The school
Purdue University: 43 labs on PI Pages, $932M a year on research, 833 research doctorates a year.
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