The Fang laboratory aims to dissect small-molecule modulation of RNA functions in human physiology and diseases by developing and applying cutting-edge chemical and genomic analysis tools. In parallel, we aim to leverage our insights into small molecule-RNA interaction principles to engineer next-generation RNA modulators that harness the native cellular machinery to precisely control RNA functions.

It’s an exciting era to explore the human transcriptome with small molecules, given the emerging roles of RNA in human physiology and diseases. Despite strong progress in this field, many fundamental questions remain: (1) Which structured RNA loci are ligandable? (2) What is the chemical space of RNA-binding ligands? (3) How do small molecules modulate RNA structure, interactions, and functions? Technical challenges largely limit our ability to answer these questions, and our lab aims to develop new methodologies to bridge these gaps.