University of Gothenburg
Department of Medical Biochemistry and Cell Biology
Decoding Gene Regulation Through small RNAs
We explore how RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) and RNA interference (RNAi) shape gene regulation at the molecular level. Our research aims to uncover fundamental mechanisms of gene regulation and develop innovative tools to target disease-driving genes.
Our Research.
RNA interference
We investigate how small RNAs guide gene silencing, uncovering novel RNAi mechanisms that can be harnessed for targeted gene regulation and potential therapeutic applications.
Gene Regulation
Our research explores how RNA molecules control gene expression, with a focus on transcriptional and post-transcriptional regulation in normal and disease states.
RNA-Binding Proteins
We study RBPs and their role in RNA metabolism, including their impact on mRNA stability, splicing, and translation, to better understand their function in health and disease.
Method Development
We develop and refine cutting-edge techniques, such as APEX proximity labeling, to map RNA-protein interactions with high spatial and temporal resolution.
Our team.
Aishe A. Sarshad
Principal Investigator
Aishe is an Associate Professor at the University of Gothenburg and the Institute of Biomedicine. Before this, she spent four years as a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Markus Hafner (NIAMS, NIH) and received her PhD from the Karolinska Institute in 2014 with Piergiorgio Percipalle (CMB).
Evgeniia Shcherbinina
Postdoc
Evgeniia joined the lab in August 2023 as a shared postdoc with AstraZeneca. She received her Ph.D. degree in Life Sciences from the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology (Skoltech).
Kuerbannisha Amahong
Postdoc
Kuerbannisha joined the lab in December 2024. She earned her PhD from Zhejiang University in 2024. Her doctoral research focused on RNA virus-host interactions, aiming to identify novel targets for antiviral drug development.
Hang Huynh
PhD student
Hang (goes by Finn) joined the lab in January 2022. Hang received a Master's degree in 2021 from the University of Tsukuba in Japan where he focused on the role of Fibulin-4 in the maintenance of endothelial function and its relationship to thoracic aortic aneurysms.
Michelle Fong
PhD Student
Michelle joined the lab in jan 2024 as a Master thesis student, exploring the mode of action of AGO2:siRNA complex in human cancer cells. She will contrinue on exploring duplex RNAs as a joint PhD student with AstraZeneca
Allumni.
Iwona Nowak, Postdoc, Nov 2020 - Dec 2024
Hsiang-Chi Huang, Postdoc, Jul 2021 - Aug 2004, Now Assistant Professor at National Cheng Kung University (NCKU)
Vivian Lobo, Postdoc, Jan 2020 - Dec 2023, Now postdoc at University of Bonn
Michelle Fong, MSc thesis student and lab tech. Now a PhD student in the lab
Geng Wenchao, MSc thesis student
Ana Pereira, MSc thesis student
Reyhaneh Rezaei, MSc thesis student
Carola Fernandez, Postdoc, Now Senior Scientist at Astra Zeneca
Esther Güse, Erasmus project student, Now PhD student in Germany
Melis Kanik, Erasmus project student, Now PhD student in Belgium
Ulrika Alexandersson, Lab manager, Now with Maria Falkenberg at UGOT
Axel Niklasson, BSc thesis student, Now doing his Masters in Science
Isra Hassan Hamzo, BMA thesis student, Now working at Östra hospital as a certified BMA
Wail Chrifi, Lab technician
Our Publications.
Hsiang-Chi Huang#, Michelle Fong, Iwona Nowak, Evgeniia Shcherbinina, Vivian Lobo, Danica F Besavilla, Hang T Huynh, Karin Schön, Jakub O Westholm, Carola Fernandez, Angana A H Patel, Clotilde Wiel, Volkan I Sayin, Dimitrios G Anastasakis, Davide Angeletti#, Aishe A Sarshad#, Nuclear AGO2 supports influenza A virus replication through type-I interferon regulation, Nucleic Acids Research, Volume 53, Issue 7, 24 April 2025, gkaf268, https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkaf268
Vivian Lobo*, Iwona Nowak*, Carola Fernandez, Ana Iris Correa Muler, Jakub O Westholm, Hsiang-Chi Huang, Ivo Fabrik, Hang T Huynh, Evgeniia Shcherbinina, Melis Poyraz, Anetta Härtlova, Daniel Benhalevy, Davide Angeletti, Aishe A Sarshad#, Loss of Lamin A leads to the nuclear translocation of AGO2 and compromised RNA interference, Nucleic Acids Research, 2024;, gkae589, https://doi.org/10.1093/nar/gkae589. PMID: 38994560.
Vivian Lobo*, Evgeniia Shcherbinina*, Jakub O Westholm, Iwona Nowak, Hsiang-Chi Huang, Davide Angeletti, Dimitrios G Anastasakis, Aishe A Sarshad. Integrative transcriptomic and proteomic profiling of the effects of cell confluency on gene expression. Scientific Data 11, 617 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-024-03465-z. PMID: 38866801
Hang T Huynh*, Evgeniia Shcherbinina*, Hsiang‐Chi Huang, Reyhaneh Rezaei, Aishe A Sarshad. Biochemical Separation of Cytoplasmic and Nuclear Fraction for Downstream Molecular Analysis. Current Protocols. 2024 May;4(5):e1042. doi: 10.1002/cpz1.1042. PMID: 38767195.
Iwona Nowak and Aishe A Sarshad. Argonaute proteins take center stage in cancers. Cancers 2021, 13(4), 788; https://doi.org/10.3390/cancers13040788. PMID: 33668654
For full list please see
https://scholar.google.com/citationsuser=bj5UmV0AAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao
Our News.
January 2025
March 2021
November 2024
February 2025
November 2024
2020