News

A safety pin against BAX.
Moldoveanu T.
Nat Chem Biol. 2026

Making zombies to kill cancer.
Moldoveanu T.
Cell Chem Biol. 2026

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CRISPR-mediated Correction of Oncogenic AS-NMD in Splicing Factor Mutant Cancer.
Nagar P, Islam MR, Rahman NA, Heeamoni SA, Hasan MM, Huq S, Ali R, Hossain M, Rahman MA.
bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2026

Targeting EZH2 oncogenic splicing: decoding the regulatory network and antisense correction.
Islam MR, Nagar P, McNaughton N, Heeamoni SA, Hasan MM, Kandel S, Mukta IJ, Tsakiroglou P, Dalton WB, Abdel-Wahab O, Krainer AR, Rahman MA.
Genes Dev. 2026

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HuR degradation reveals dependencies in BRAF-driven cancers.
Siordia IR, Brody JR, Dixon DA.
Trends Cancer. 2026

By Katie Fite

Researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) College of Medicine and Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute made a breakthrough while studying a new therapeutic strategy for blood cancer that may lead to better future treatment options.

The successful study was published in Genes & Development, one of the top 10 research journals in the field of molecular biology and genetics.

This research was led by Mohammad Rahman, Ph.D., in collaboration with leading scholars in the field Omar-Abdel-Wahab, M.D., at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Adrian Krainer, Ph.D., at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, and William Dalton, M.D., Ph.D., at Johns Hopkins University. The lead authors of this study are two postdoctoral trainees in Rahman’s lab, Rafikul Islam, Ph.D., and Preeti Nagar, Ph.D.

The paper entitled, “Targeting EZH2 Oncogenic Splicing: Decoding the Regulatory Network and Antisense Correction,” focuses on the team’s efforts to use a treatment called antisense (ASO) pharmacology to correct mutations that can lead to blood cancer.

“This study exemplifies the innovative, high-impact research the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute is committed to,” said Michael Birrer, M.D., Ph.D., vice chancellor of UAMS and director of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute. “Breakthroughs like this bring us closer to developing more effective treatment options for certain cancers.”

Research in recent decades has established that repeated mutations in proteins called splicing factors can cause several types of blood cancer and a variety of other tumors. Splicing factors play a critical role in human cells by helping our cells read and use genetic information. When these functions do not work correctly, cells can become unhealthy. Rahman’s team previously published research studying the impact of recurrent mutations in SRSF2. This current work builds on that discovery.

“We extended our focus to develop a therapeutic strategy to correct splicing that leads to cancer and conceived this study,” said Rahman.

When mutations occur in SRSF2, the tumor suppressing gene known as EZH2 is altered, ultimately weakening one of our body’s natural defenses against cancer. For this study, EZH2 was chosen as the target for therapy. The research team successfully demonstrated that using an ASO can repair the damage to EZH2 and partially restore the body’s ability to produce new blood cells.

Ultimately, this is an important step toward developing new treatment options for blood cancers that are difficult to treat. The team plans to continue testing this treatment strategy, expanding their focus to include additional genes.

“Our future research will develop ASOs targeting multiple genes and test the efficacy of a combined treatment,” said Rahman. A provisional patent application has been filed for the lead ASO developed in this study, with Rahman, Islam and Nagar listed as the inventors.

Rahman, assistant professor in the College of Medicine Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and member of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, centers his research on alternative splicing (AS) and nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) two cellular processes that control genes as needed. Tumor cells often use AS and/or NMD, this work aims to detail how this happens with the goal of developing new effective cancer therapies.

This study was supported by the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences of the National Institutes of Health awards R35GM154991 and P20GM152281, and Edward P. Evans Foundation.

Assessing Pain Linked to High Metabolic and Glycolytic Shift in Neurofibromatosis Type 1 (NF1) Patients by Using a Bioenergetic Biomarker: A Pilot Study.
Miller GP, Krager K, Eom D, Aykin-Burns N, Santos-Horta E.
Cureus. 2026

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TGF-β Is Critical for Ovarian Cancer Migration, Invasion, and Chemosensitivity.
Elms C, Wei W, Birrer MJ.
Cancers (Basel).

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Bioactivation and reactivity research advances – 2025 year in review.
Liu J, Argikar UA, Brunetti P, Chatzopoulou M, Cho S, Claesson A, Dhaware D, Lang J, Ma B, Ma S, Maw H, Miller GP, Schadt S, Seneviratne HK, Tang LWT, Wei C, Khojasteh SC.
Drug Metab Rev. 2026

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Dynamic global acetylation remodeling during the yeast heat shock response.
Hardman-Kavanaugh RE, Storey AJ, Stuecker TN, Hood SE, Barrett-Wilt GA, Krishnamurthi VR, Wang Y, Byrum SD, Mackintosh SG, Edmondson RD, Wahls WP, Tackett AJ, Lewis JA.
Genome Biol. 2026

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The nucleoside analog CMX521 inhibits coronavirus RNA-dependent RNA polymerase via a two-pronged mechanism.
Rakib A, Gordon C, Anderson TK, Marecki JC, Smitskamp Q, Moorman NJ, Heise MT, Colton HM, Selleseth D, Lanier ER, Raney KD, Kirchdoerfer RN, Götte M, Dulin D.
bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2026

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A peptide-based screen for cell death inhibitors identifies the cytoprotective compound CDL36.
Inde Z, Keppler S, Gelles J, Fraser CS, Presser A, Mohammed JN, Jung M, Garvey DS, Moldoveanu T, Chipuk JE, Sarosiek KA.
bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2026

The thirteenth Annual Arkansas Undergraduate Summer Research Symposium was held on July 29, 2026. Undergraduate students from 36 institutions in 16 states gathered at UAMS to celebrate the achievements of undergraduates pursuing research projects at colleges and universities across Arkansas.

Of the 87 student researchers who submitted abstracts for the Symposium 12 were selected for oral presentations.

• Elena Coleman from Rhodes College performed research this summer at UAMS in the SURP program.
• Lillie Ballany from the University of Arkansas performed research this summer at UAMS in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department SURF program.
• Mia Canizares from Mount St. Mary’s Academy performed research this summer at UAMS in Cell Biology and Physiology.
• Owen Bussell from the University of Central Arkansas performed research this summer at at the University of Central Arkansas.
• Bailee Brinkley from Arkansas Tech University performed research this summer at UAMS in the INBRE program.
• Fariha Alam Bushra from Southeast Missouri State University performed research this summer at UAMS in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department SURF program.
• Clara Park from Rhodes College performed research this summer at UAMS in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department SURF program.
• Bennett Dishongh from Hendrix College performed research this summer at UAMS in the INBRE program.
• Mishel Ocho from Wake Forrest University performed research this summer at UAMS in the Pharmacology and Toxicology SURF program.
• Chelsea Cliff from Howard University performed research this summer at UAMS in the SURP program.
• Kaylee Francis from Hendrix College performed research this summer at UAMS in the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department SURF program.
• Spencer Stutts from Hendrix College performed research this summer at the University of Arkansas – Fayetteville in the INBRE program.

Of the 80 poster presentations, the top 10 received prizes donated by MedChemExpress and the UAMS Graduate School.

• Benjamin Anderson from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock
• Praise Fabiya from the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff
• Hannah Harshaw from Ouachita Baptist University
• Ava Lang from Arkansas State University
• Sonja Ramirez from Lyon College
• Simra Rana from Haas Hall Academy
• Ian Scarth from the University of Hawaii
• Joshua Skipworth from the University of Central Arkansas
• Paige Spicer from Ouachita Baptist University
• Rhys Wolter from Episcopal Collegiate

This annual event at UAMS is organized by the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department, and was supported by the Arkansas INBRE, the Center for Molecular Interactions in Cancer (CMIC), the UAMS Graduate School, the Central Arkansas Chapter of Sigma Xi, and MedChemExpress.

Congratulations to Mason McCrury, Ph.D., on the successful defense of his dissertation, “DNA secondary structure as a determinant of activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID) activity at key oncogenes.” Dr. McCrury was mentored by Dr. Samantha Kendrick and will be moving to Emory University for his postdoctoral studies.

Human REV1 interacts with DHX36 to promote replication and tolerance of G-quadruplex DNA.
Ketkar A, Paxton BC, Zuniga OE, Sewilam RS, Morales M, Schaller J, McCollum RJ, Jackson KE, Lowran K, Paul A, Patel M, Seenivasan S, McCrury M, Al-Anbaky Q, Maddukuri L, Kendrick S, Wu CG, Gunderson JEC, Eoff RL.
Nucleic Acids Res. 2026

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Copy-back RNA synthesis by coronavirus polymerase requires helicase activity and is stimulated by remdesivir and molnupiravir.
Rakib A, Das A, Bera SC, Cnossen J, Robles-Sikisaka R, Diefenbacher MV, America PPB, Klein M, Anderson TK, Marecki JC, Wang B, Bogers E, Feng JY, Bilello JP, Papini FS, Smitskamp Q, Sheahan TP, Arnold JJ, Routh A, Artsimovitch I, Kirchdoerfer RN, Cameron CE, Raney KD, Dulin D.
Sci Adv. 2026

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Acellular normothermic spleen perfusion resolves transcriptional and non-transcriptional mechanisms of steroid immunosuppression.
Callais NA, Welch S, Rainwater RR, Schaller J, Deng S, Azevedo-Pouly A, Burdine MS, Burdine L.
bioRxiv [Preprint]. 2026

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DZNep: A Methyltransferase Modulator for Disease Mitigation.
Garg S, Miousse IR.
Environ Mol Mutagen. 2026

Third year Ph.D student Vy Nugyen won first place for her presentation of her poster, “Rnd3 Regulates Lung Cancer Cell Migration and Invasion via Integrin Alpha 5 and Modulation of Lung Cancer Metastasis” at the 10th Biennial National IDeA Symposium of Biomedical Research Excellence (NISBRE) meeting in Rockville, MD.

Vy also presented her research as a poster and short talk at the FASEB Regulation and Function of Small GTPases meeting in Melbourne, FL where she won a $750 travel award.

Vy is mentored by Katie Ryan, Ph.D. Congratulations Vy!

Welcome to our 2026 Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) students. These students will spend 10 weeks performing research projects in laboratories across the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department. The students and their mentors are:

• Savea Cunningham – Tudor Moldoveanu, Ph.D.
• Luke Garrett – Robert Eoff, Ph.D.
• Kaylee Francis – Robert Eoff, Ph.D.
• Betty Hu – Joonas Jamsen, Ph.D.
• Clara Park – Eric Enemark, Ph.D.
• Ashley Wallace – Kirk West, Ph.D.
• Jessica Offordum – Sayem Miah, Ph.D.
• Fariha Alam Bushra – Mohammad Rahman, Ph.D.
• Lillie Ballany – Alicia Byrd, Ph.D.

Congratulations to Zihun Zhang, Ph.D. on his successful defense of his dissertation entitled, “The mutant CST6N137D protects against bone damage, but also enhances the immune response in multiple myeloma”. Dr. Zhang was mentored by Fenghuang “Frank” Zhan, M.D., Ph.D. and will continue as a postdoc in the Zhan lab.