Research Interests / Areas of Expertise:

Singh group works on the interface of fundamental and translational biology. General interest of his group has been to understand the mechanism of alternative splicing, a vital process that increases the coding potential of genome in all higher eukaryotes. Alternative splicing is also associated with a growing number of diseases including neurological and neuromuscular disorders, cardiovascular disorders and cancer. Particular focus of his group has been to understand the molecular basis of Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA), a debilitating genetic disease of infants and children. His award-winning discovery relates to finding a unique regulatory element located within the non-coding region (or intron) of Survival Motor Neuron (SMN) gene. He has termed this novel regulatory element as “Intronic Splicing Silencer N1”, which is abbreviated as “ISS-N1”. Currently, his group is working on the mechanistic details of how ISS-N1 could be used as a therapeutic target. His other interests include RNA-protein interactions and isolation of RNA aptamers as detection and diagnostic tools.

Education & Certifications:
DB. Sc.:  Banaras Hindu University, India 1983
M. Sc.:  Banaras Hindu University, India 1985
Ph.D.:  Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia, 1993.

Memberships
The RNA Society
American Society for Microbiology

Publications

Singh RN(2007) Evolving concepts on human SMN pre-mRNA splicing. RNA Biology, 4, 7-10.

Singh RN (2007) Unfolding the mystery of alternative splicing through a unique method of in vivo selection. Frontiers in Bioscience,12, 3263-3272.

Singh NN, Singh RN and Androphy EJ (2007) Modulating role of a RNA structure in skipping of a critical
exon in the spinal muscular atrophy genes. Nucleic Acids Research, 35, 371-389.

Singh NK, Singh NN, Androphy EJ and Singh RN (2006) Splicing of a Critical Exon of Survival Motor Neuron genes is regulated by a human-specific silencer element located in the last intron.Molecular and Cellular Biology, 26, 1333-1346.

Singh NN, Androphy EJ and Singh RN (2004) In vivo selection reveals features of combinatorial control that defines a critical exon in the spinal muscular atrophy genes. RNA, 10, 1291-1305.

Singh NN, Androphy EJ and Singh RN (2004) Regulation and regulatory activities of alternative splicing of the SMN genes. Critical Reviews in Eukaryotic Gene Expression, 14, 271-285.

Singh NN, Androphy EJ and Singh RN. (2004) An extended inhibitory context causes skipping of exon 7 of SMN2 in spinal muscular atrophy. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, 315, 381-388.

Singh RN, Saldanha R, D’Souza LM and Lambowitz AM (2002) Binding of a group II intron-encoded reverse transcriptase/maturase to its high affinity intron RNA binding site involves sequence-specific recognition and autoregulates translation. Journal of Molecular Biology, 318, 287-303.

Wank H, SanFilippo J, Singh RN, Matsuuara M and Lambowitz AM (1999) A reverse transcriptase/maturase promotes RNA splicing by binding at its own coding segment in a group II intron. Molecular Cell, 4. 239-250.

Singh RN and Dreher TW (1998) Specific site selection in RNA resulting from a combination of nonspecific secondary structure and -CCR- boxes: initiation of minus strand synthesis by turnip yellow mosaic virus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. RNA, 4, 1083-1095.

Leadership:

Honors and Awards: