Eric G. Moss, Ph.D.
E-mail: mosseg@umdnj.edu
Phone: 856 566-2896
Fax: 856 566-6291
Office: Science Center 312
Address:
Department of Molecular Biology
UMDNJ-SOM
2 Medical Center Drive
Stratford, NJ 08084
Lab web page

Description of research:

We are investigating how development is controlled in the fourth dimension. Animals posses explicit genetic regulatory mechanisms that control the timing and synchrony of developmental events. Interestingly, the molecules involved are unlike other developmental patterning regulators and often involve post-transcriptional gene regulation. Most prominent among these unusual regulators are the microRNAs which were discovered in the developmental timing pathway of the nematode C. elegans. We are combining biochemistry, molecular biology and genetics to dissect and explore the developmental timing mechanism.

We discovered that Lin-28, an RNA-binding protein and a key developmental timing regulator of C. elegans, is conserved from worms to humans. It appears to be a timing regulator in many developmental events in the mouse and to be regulated by microRNAs through its 3' untranslated region. We are using the power of mouse molecular and developmental biology to extend our understanding of timing from worms to mice and humans.

Recent Publications:

Pepper AS-R, McCane J, Kemper K,   Au Yeung D, Lee R, Ambros V, Moss EG.  The C. elegans heterochronic gene lin-46 affects developmental timing at two larval stages and encodes a relative of the scaffolding protein gephyrin.  Development 2004 Apr. 8; 131(9):  2049-59.

Sempere LF, Freemantle S, Pitha-Rowe I, Moss E, Dmitrovsky E and Ambros V.  Expression profiling of mammalian microRNAs uncovers a subset of

brain-expressed microRNAs with possible roles in murine and human neuronal differentiation.  Genome Biology 2004  Feb. 16; 5:R13.

Moss EG and Taylor JM. Small interfering RNAs in the radar of the interferon system. Nat. Cell Biol. 2003 Sept. 1; 5:771-772. News and Views .

Yang D-H and Moss EG. Temporally regulated expression of Lin-28 in diverse tissues of the developing mouse. Mech. Dev./Gene Exp. Patterns. 3(6):719-726.

Bellacosa A and Moss EG. RNA Repair: Damage Control. Curr Biol. 2003 June 17;13(12):R482-R484. Review.

Moss EG and Tang L. Conservation of the heterochronic regulator Lin-28, its developmental expression and microRNA complementary sites. Dev Biol. 2003 June 15;258(2):432-42.

Moss EG Silencing Unhealthy Alleles Naturally Trends Biotech. 2003 May; 21(5):185-187. Review.

Moss EG "MicroRNAs" In Noncoding RNAs: Molecular Biology and Molecular Medicine J. Barciszewski, V.A. Erdmann, eds. Landes Bioscience. 2003.

Moss EG and Poethig RS. MicroRNAs: something new under the sun. Curr Biol. 2002 Oct 15;12(20):R688-90. Review.

Seggerson K, Tang L, Moss EG. Two genetic circuits repress the Caenorhabditis elegans heterochronic gene lin-28 after translation initiation. Dev Biol. 2002 Mar 15;243(2):215-25.

Moss EG. MicroRNAs: hidden in the genome. Curr Biol. 2002 Feb 19;12(4):R138-40. Review.

Moss EG. RNA interference: it's a small RNA world. Curr Biol. 2001 Oct 2;11(19):R772-5. Review.

Moss EG. Non-coding RNA's: lightning strikes twice. Curr Biol. 2000 Jun 15;10(12):R436-9. Review.

Moss EG, Lee RC, Ambros V. The cold shock domain protein LIN-28 controls developmental timing in C. elegans and is regulated by the lin-4 RNA. Cell. 1997 Mar 7;88(5):637-46.