Weili Miao
Stanford University, CA·Biology·Early-career
Glucose is best known as fuel, but it may also act as a signal that tells skin cells what to become. The outer layer of skin, the epidermis, constantly renews itself as cells called keratinocytes divide and then mature (differentiate) into protective layers.
- Fields
Biology
Biochemistry
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
epidermal differentiation
epidermal homeostasis
skin biology
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jun 2029
What they work on
- Define how glucose enables the RNA-binding protein DDX50 to form a complex with RNA and the protein STAU1, and how glucose controls this complex's role in keratinocyte differentiation.
- Explore alternative models of how glucose regulates DDX50 function during differentiation of epidermal keratinocytes.
- Test whether glucose helps the RNA-modifying enzyme NSUN2 bind S-adenosyl methionine (SAM), its methyl-donor helper molecule, to promote epidermal differentiation.
- Evaluate how glucose regulates 51 additional glucose-binding RNA-binding proteins found to be essential for epidermal differentiation.
More about the research
When this balance breaks down, skin diseases such as psoriasis or cancer can result, and one in four Americans has a skin disease. The lab has found that rising glucose levels inside keratinocytes are needed for differentiation, separately from glucose's role in energy, by helping specific proteins join together or come apart.
Why it matters
Faulty control of skin cell growth and maturation underlies diseases such as psoriasis and skin cancer. By showing how glucose directly controls RNA-binding proteins in skin cells, this work could point to new molecular targets and therapeutic strategies for treating skin diseases.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Mikhail Nikiforov
Duke University, NC·Biology
Identify the mechanisms that recruit IMPDH2, the rate-limiting enzyme of GTP production, to the plasma membrane and protrusions of invading melanoma cells, where it fuels the cell-movement switch RAC1.
Jennifer Yunyan Zhang
Duke University, NC·Microbiology & Immunology
Test whether UBE2N's enzyme activity and its partner UBE2V1 maintain normal epidermis and skin immune balance, using conditional genetic mouse models, single-cell transcriptomics and proteomics.
Jiahui Wu
University of Massachusetts, MA·Biochemistry
Develop an RNA tag with ultrahigh affinity to accurately identify the RNA-binding proteins that make up ribonucleoprotein complexes and trigger condensate formation.
The school
Stanford University: 87 labs on PI Pages, $1.6B a year on research, 739 research doctorates a year.
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