Identification of mosquito RBPome: Due to their ability to tolerate and spread significant number of virus infections, mosquitos are clinically and economically important organisms. During the course of the fellowship, I have identified first known mosquito RBPome, include central proteins of innate immunity and host-virus interactions, as well as hundreds of proteins previously unknown to bind RNA suggesting specialized gain of function in mosquitos.
Developing a viral RNA interactome capture: I have developed the viral RNA interactome capture, which is a widely applicable technique to identify proteins binding specifically to viral RNA. I applied this technique in both mosquitos and human cells with wide range of viruses including Sindbis and SARS-CoV2. The significance of identifying proteins binding to viral RNA can be summarized in two aspects 1) they reflect the proteins involved in processing viral RNA leading to better understanding of the virus life cycle 2) due to their direct interaction with viral RNA, they are highly likely to be essential for virus infection thus presenting numerous for therapeutic interventions (which I show in the presented publications as well)
Applying the DRmov workflow on newly emerging virus infections: At the time of writing the fellowship application at 2018, I presented DRmov as a standalone workflow composed of a number of consequential techniques to address lack of information about emerging viruses and poorly-studied vectors. With emergence of SARS-CoV2 and dominance of COVID19 in 2020, I applied the DRmov workflow to such threat. This work (which is award-winning and published in Molecular cell) presented details about SARS-CoV2 life cycle and provided several opportunities for therapeutic intervention.
results exploitation and dissemination
The work described here is covered by 2 research publications, one review, one protocol and two manuscripts in preparation
Published:
Kamel et al Molecular Cell 2021
Kamel et al BioRxiv 2021
Iselin, et al Trends Biochem. Sci. 2021
In preparation
Kamel et al (vRIC protocol, following invitation from STAR protocols), expected submission May2022
Kamel et al (Identification of mosquito RBPome), expected submission June 2022
Moreover, I have presented this work in the following conferences
1- Poster at “RNA UK 2020”, January 2020
2- Talk at “Oxford talks - Infection and Disease Processes Seminar Series” March 2020
3- Talk at “RNA Society conference” June 2021
4- Talk at “BSPR conference” July 2021
5- Talk at “London Proteomics” Sept 2021
6- scheduled talk at “Virology Symposium” May 2022
Additionally, I made/involved in YouTube videos describing my results to general public and specialized researchers
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SRnr9yfPPrY&t=3s(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bX7bi4fqLzY&t=461s(odnośnik otworzy się w nowym oknie)Also, I received the following award for my work:
Early Career Research Award, British Society for Proteome Research (BSPR)
