OU professors earn NIH grant for research on corn and its potential to help understand cancer in humans

Oakland University Professor Shailesh Lal, in collaboration with Dr. Gerard Madlambayan and Dr. Fabia Battistuzzi, has been awarded a $562,500 grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for his research on the RNA Binding Motif Protein 48 (RBM48) gene found in corn, and its potential impact on human health.

"As a plant biologist, my research at OU for the past 25 years has mostly been funded by a series of grants from National Science Foundation (NSF)," said Lal, chair of the Department of Bioengineering and a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at OU. "Therefore, securing my first NIH award during these challenging times at this stage of my career is especially meaningful to me."

As a plant molecular biologist, Lal's previous research focused on identifying genes necessary to improve the agronomic traits of corn kernels, as the U.S. is the world's largest producer, consumer, and exporter of corn products.

"During this research, we found genes essential for normal kernel development involved in processing U12 introns - specialized DNA segments withing genes that are removed from the mRNA before protein synthesis," Lal said. "We discovered that several of these genes resemble human genes, and U12 introns have been linked to human diseases, including blood cancers like Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS) and Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML).

"Surprisingly, the splicing of U12 introns in plants and animals occurs in common protein complexes and biochemical pathways, suggesting that they have a shared genetic architecture," Lal added. "This represented a paradigm shift in how we understand human disease and showed that it is possible to create new knowledge by crossing the evolutionary boundaries between plants and animals."

Recognizing the importance of this discovery in plants and its biomedical relevance to human cancer, Lal reached out to Dr. Madlambayan, chairman of the Department of Biological Sciences and a professor in the Department of Bioengineering; and Dr. Battistuzzi, an associate professor of biology and associate dean in OU's College of Arts and Sciences, and worked with them to generate data showing that this kind of corn research can provide valuable insights in fighting aggressive human cancers. This helped them secure NIH grant funding for their research project, titled "The Characterization of RNA Binding Motif Protein 48 (RBM48) in U12 Intron Splicing, Cellular Differentiation, and Development."

"This award was the result of a collaborative effort and hard work over the past five years among three investigators who hold important leadership roles," Lal said. "It demonstrates the high caliber of our faculty and students in successfully competing at the national level. It also highlights an interdisciplinary approach that can be cultivated among the diverse expertise of our faculty across disciplines, which will be vital as we work toward earning the R1 top-tier research university designation in the near future."

Dr. Lal, Dr. Madlambayan, and Dr. Battistuzzi will serve as co-investigators on the project. Each will contribute their expertise to help achieve the goals of the gran, which include helping to bridge the gap in humanity's understanding of a growing number of diseases ranging from hematological and neurological to cancer that have been linked to defects in U12 splicing.

"In addition, the grant funds will support a comprehensive training program offering hands-on research experience for both undergraduates and graduate students," Lal said. "The students will also gain experience in presenting their research data at both international and national conferences, which will undoubtedly provide valuable opportunities to sharpen their skills early in their careers and help them become national leaders in the biomedical field in the future."

Dr. David Stone, OU's vice president for research, added, "this is OU research at its best; faculty finding synergy across areas of specialization, generating ground-breaking discovery, and involving students every step of the way."

To learn more about this grant, visit https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11124317.