{"id":13291,"date":"2017-06-20T09:11:34","date_gmt":"2017-06-20T13:11:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/?post_type=profile&#038;p=13291"},"modified":"2025-12-22T08:29:55","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T13:29:55","slug":"nelson-lau","status":"publish","type":"profile","link":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/profiles\/nelson-lau\/","title":{"rendered":"Nelson C. Lau"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Our lab studies \u00a0RNA interference (RNAi) mechanisms such as the PIWI\/piRNA pathway which protects our genomes from the spread of transposable elements (TEs). Our DNA is inherently laden with TEs that have continued to infect our genomes. Over millions of years of evolution, TEs have filled up over 45% of our genome\u2019s content. If TEs are unchecked, their mobilization causes germ cell death, infertility, and genomic damage during cellular aging. Therefore, our cells depend on small regulatory RNAs and their associated PIWI and ARGONAUTE proteins to safeguard genomes from these mobilizing elements.<\/p>\n<p>Our lab applies functional and comparative genomics and biochemical approaches to dissect the molecular mechanisms for how PIWI \/ piRNA complexes silence genomic targets.\u00a0 By understanding the requirements and limitations of the PIWI\/piRNA pathway, we may be able to uncover how TEs might evade suppression by these pathways to generate wide-spread TE landscape diversity across animal genomes. Our mechanistic studies will also help us find situations to enhance TE control and link TE mis-regulation to etiologies of genome decline.\u00a0 We are collaborating with several other groups at BUMC to look at the impact of TEs in skin cells, macrophages, and neurons.\u00a0 Towards this goal, we are exploring how loss of transposon silencing by RNAi pathways is tied to animal aging processes.<\/p>\n<p>Recently, our lab has also extended our piRNA studies to mosquito cells and animals to examine how pathogenic flaviviruses like Dengue, Zika and West Nile viruses can generate small RNAs including viral piRNAs. \u00a0We created and are continuing to update a Mosquito Small RNA Genomics pipeline, the MSRG database, to enable broad comparative analysis of mosquito small RNAs that may repress viral mRNAs and TE RNAs.\u00a0 Since many TEs are genomic relics and related to retroviruses, the RNAi pathway represents an adaptive immunity response to both evolutionary and on going infection threats in insects.\u00a0 This work is conducted in close collaboration with the BU National Emerging and Infectious Disease Laboratory (NEIDL).<\/p>\n<p><span><div class=\"bu_collapsible_container \" aria-live=\"polite\" data-customize-animation=\"false\"><h4 class=\"bu_collapsible\" aria-expanded=\"false\"tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\">Laboratory Members<\/h4><div class=\"bu_collapsible_section\" style=\"display: none;\"><\/span><br \/>\n<em><\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>\n\t<div class=\"profile-listing\">\n\t\t<ul class=\"advanced\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"has-title\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/profiles\/md-fakhrul-azad\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure><img width=\"137\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/biochemcellbio\/files\/2023\/06\/Image_Fakhrul.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<p class=\"profile-name\">Md Fakhrul Azad<\/p>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title\">Postdoctoral Associate-Lau Lab<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"profile-interest\">Small RNAs and gene silencing, Transposons and RNA splicing, human aging and neurodegeneration.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"has-title\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/profiles\/nguyen-phuong-anh-bui\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/biochemcellbio\/files\/2025\/10\/N.Bui_-150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<p class=\"profile-name\">Nguyen Phuong Anh Bui<\/p>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title\">Research Technician &#8211; Lau Lab<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"profile-interest\">Cell Biology, Biochemistry, Immunology<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"has-title\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/profiles\/alex-crosbie-villaseca\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/biochemcellbio\/files\/2023\/07\/thumbnail_IMG_3828.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<p class=\"profile-name\">Alex Crosbie-Villaseca<\/p>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title\">Research Technician &#8211; Lau Lab<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"profile-interest\">Genetics<br \/>\r\nCell Biology<br \/>\r\nBiochemistry<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"has-title\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/profiles\/jou-hsuan-roxie-lee\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/biochemcellbio\/files\/2024\/04\/IMG_9489_1lab-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<p class=\"profile-name\">Jou-Hsuan (Roxie) Lee<\/p>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title\">Research Data Analyst \u2013 Lau Lab<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"profile-interest\">Transcriptomics, Genomics, Metagenomics<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"has-title\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/profiles\/rohit-sharma\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure><img width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/biochemcellbio\/files\/2023\/07\/1639673629051.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<p class=\"profile-name\">Rohit Sharma<\/p>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title\">Postdoctoral Associate &#8211; Lau Lab<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"profile-interest\">Arbovirus, RNAi, Applied Entomology<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\n<li class=\"has-title\">\n\t<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/profiles\/chester-the-pug\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<figure><img width=\"110\" height=\"150\" src=\"\/biochemcellbio\/files\/2022\/08\/ChesterthePug2024-219x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" \/><\/figure>\t\t\t\t<p class=\"profile-name\">Chester The Pug<\/p>\n\t\t<p class=\"profile-title\">Lab Mascot<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"profile-interest\">Bones, squirrels, fire hydrants, blueberries, other dogs.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n<\/li>\t\t\t\t\t<\/ul>\n\t<\/div><!--\/.profile-listing-->\n<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><br \/>\n<\/em><em><\/em><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"s1\"><div class=\"bu_collapsible_container \" aria-live=\"polite\" data-customize-animation=\"false\"><h4 class=\"bu_collapsible\" aria-expanded=\"false\"tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\">Representative Publications<\/h4><div class=\"bu_collapsible_section\" style=\"display: none;\"><br \/>\nComplete list can be found at <a href=\"https:\/\/profiles.bu.edu\/Nelson.Lau\"><span class=\"s2\">BU Profiles<\/span><\/a><br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>\n<div class=\"publication\"><span id=\"ctl00_rptMainTabbed_ctl04_ctl00_rpPublication_ctl01_lblPublication\">Yabaji SM, Zhernovkov V, Araveti PB, Lata S, Rukhlenko OS, Abdullatif SA, Vanvalkenburg A, Alekseyev YO, Ma Q, Dayama G, Lau NC, Johnson WE, Bishai WR, Crossland NA, Campbell JD, Kholodenko BN, Gimelbrant AA, Kobzik L, Kramnik I. Lipid peroxidation and type I interferon coupling fuels pathogenic macrophage activation causing tuberculosis susceptibility. Elife. 2025 Oct 02; 14.<span>\u00a0<\/span>PMID:<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/41037321\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">41037321<\/a>; PMCID:<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC12490860\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PMC12490860<\/a>; DOI:<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.7554\/eLife.106814\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">10.7554\/eLife.106814<\/a>;<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"publication\"><span id=\"ctl00_rptMainTabbed_ctl04_ctl00_rpPublication_ctl02_lblPublication\">Rivera AJ, Lee JR, Gupta S, Yang L, Goel RK, Zaia J, Lau NC. Traffic Jam activates the Flamenco piRNA cluster locus and the Piwi pathway to ensure transposon silencing and Drosophila fertility. Cell Rep. 2025 Apr 22; 44(4):115354. PMID:<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/40209716\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">40209716<\/a>; PMCID:<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC12094058\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PMC12094058<\/a>; DOI:<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1016\/j.celrep.2025.115354\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">10.1016\/j.celrep.2025.115354<\/a>;<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"publication\"><span id=\"ctl00_rptMainTabbed_ctl04_ctl00_rpPublication_ctl03_lblPublication\">Alizada A, Martins A, Mouni\u00e9e N, Rodriguez Suarez JV, Bertin B, Gueguen N, Mirouse V, Papameletiou AM, Rivera AJ, Lau NC, Akkouche A, Maupetit-M\u00e9houas S, Hannon GJ, Czech Nicholson B, Brasset E. The transcription factor Traffic jam orchestrates the somatic piRNA pathway in Drosophila ovaries. Cell Rep. 2025 Apr 22; 44(4):115453. PMID:<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/40209715\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">40209715<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"publication\"><span id=\"ctl00_rptMainTabbed_ctl04_ctl00_rpPublication_ctl04_lblPublication\">Vasquez JH, Yuan J, Leow CJ, Crossey E, Shao F, Carty S, Dominguez VA, Lo M, Mizgerd JP, Fetterman JL, Lau NC, Fine A, Jones MR. Somatic Miwi2 modulates mitochondrial function in airway multiciliated cells and exacerbates influenza pathogenesis. iScience. 2025 Apr 18; 28(4):112291. PMID:<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/40241756\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">40241756<\/a>; PMCID:<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC12002665\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PMC12002665<\/a>; DOI:<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1016\/j.isci.2025.112291\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">10.1016\/j.isci.2025.112291<\/a>;<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"publication\"><span id=\"ctl00_rptMainTabbed_ctl04_ctl00_rpPublication_ctl05_lblPublication\">Dayama G, Gupta S, Connizzo BK, Labadorf AT, Myers RH, Lau NC. Transposable element small and long RNAs in aging brains and implications in Huntington&#8217;s and Parkinson&#8217;s disease. bioRxiv. 2024 Oct 25. PMID:<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/39484439\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">39484439<\/a>; PMCID:<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC11526979\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PMC11526979<\/a>; DOI:<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1101\/2024.10.22.619758\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">10.1101\/2024.10.22.619758<\/a>;<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"publication\"><span id=\"ctl00_rptMainTabbed_ctl04_ctl00_rpPublication_ctl06_lblPublication\">Azad MF, Tong T, Lau NC. Transposable Element (TE) insertion predictions from RNAseq inputs and TE impact on RNA splicing and gene expression in Drosophila brain transcriptomes. Mob DNA. 2024 Oct 09; 15(1):20. PMID:<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/39385293\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">39385293<\/a>; PMCID:<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC11462757\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PMC11462757<\/a>; DOI:<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1186\/s13100-024-00330-z\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">10.1186\/s13100-024-00330-z<\/a>;<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"publication\"><span id=\"ctl00_rptMainTabbed_ctl04_ctl00_rpPublication_ctl09_lblPublication\">Gupta S, Sharma R, Williams AE, Sanchez-Vargas I, Rose NH, Zhang C, Crosbie-Villaseca A, Zhu Z, Dayama G, Gloria-Soria A, Brackney DE, Manning J, Wheeler SS, Caranci A, Reyes T, Sylla M, Badolo A, Akorli J, Aribodor OB, Ayala D, Liu WL, Chen CH, Vasquez C, Acosta CG, Ponlawat A, Magalhaes T, Carter B, Wesson D, Surin D, Younger MA, Costa-da-Silva AL, DeGennaro M, Bergman A, Lambrechts L, McBride CS, Olson KE, Calvo E, Lau NC. Global genomics of Aedes aegypti unveils widespread and novel infectious viruses capable of triggering a small RNA response. bioRxiv. 2024 Jun 06. PMID:<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/38895463\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">38895463<\/a>; PMCID:<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC11185646\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PMC11185646<\/a>; DOI:<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1101\/2024.06.06.597482\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">10.1101\/2024.06.06.597482<\/a>;<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<div class=\"publication\"><span id=\"ctl00_rptMainTabbed_ctl04_ctl00_rpPublication_ctl10_lblPublication\">Lau NC, Macias VM. Transposon and Transgene Tribulations in Mosquitoes: A Perspective of piRNA Proportions. DNA (Basel). 2024 Jun; 4(2):104-128. PMID:<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/39076684\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">39076684<\/a>; PMCID:<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC11286205\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">PMC11286205<\/a>; DOI:<span>\u00a0<\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.3390\/dna4020006\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">10.3390\/dna4020006<\/a>;<\/span><\/div>\n<\/li>\n<li>Henderson C, Brustolin M, Hegde S, Dayama G, Lau N, Hughes GL, Bergey C, Rasgon JL. Transcriptomic and small RNA response to Mayaro virus infection in Anopheles stephensi mosquitoes. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2022 Jun 28;16(6):e0010507. doi: 10.1371\/journal.pntd.0010507. eCollection 2022 Jun. PMID: 35763539. PMCID: PMC9273063<\/li>\n<li>Feitosa-Suntheimer F, Zhu Z, Mameli E, Dayama G, Gold AS, Broos-Caldwell A, Troupin A, Rippee-Brooks M, Corley RB, Lau NC, Colpitts TM, Londo\u00f1o-Renteria B. Dengue Virus-2 Infection Affects Fecundity and Elicits Specific Transcriptional Changes in the Ovaries of Aedes aegypti Mosquitoes. Front Microbiol. 2022 Jun 23;13:886787. doi: 10.3389\/fmicb.2022.886787. eCollection 2022. PMID: 35814655. PMCID: PMC9260120<\/li>\n<li>Yang N, Srivastav SP, Rahman R, Ma Q, Dayama G, Li S, Chinen M, Lei EP, Rosbash M, Lau NC (2022).Transposable element landscapes in aging Drosophila. PLoS Genetics. 2022 Mar 3;18(3):e1010024. doi: 10.1371\/journal.pgen.1010024. eCollection 2022 Mar. PMID: 35239675<\/li>\n<li>Bandyopadhyay S, Douglass J, Kapell S, Khan N, Feitosa-Suntheimer F, Klein JA, Temple J, Brown-Culbertson J, Tavares AH, Saeed M, Lau NC. Lau NC (2021). DNA templates with blocked long 3&#8242; end single-stranded overhangs (BL3SSO) promote bona fide Cas9-stimulated homology-directed repair of long transgenes into endogenous gene loci. G3 (Bethesda). 2021 May 14:jkab169. doi: 10.1093\/g3journal\/jkab169. Online ahead of print. PMID: 33989385<\/li>\n<li>Ma Q, Srivastav SP, Gamez S, Dayama G, Feitosa-Suntheimer F, Patterson EI, Johnson RM, Matson EM, Gold AS, Brackney DE, Connor JH, Colpitts TM, Hughes GL, Rasgon JL, Nolan T, Akbari OS, Lau NC. A mosquito small RNA genomics resource reveals dynamic evolution and host responses to viruses and transposons. Genome Res. 2021 Jan 08. PMID: 33419731<\/li>\n<li><span id=\"rpPublication_ctl01_lblPublication\">Zeldich E, Chen CD, Boden E, Howat B, Nasse JS, Zeldich D, Lambert AG, Yuste A, Cherry JD, Mathias RM, Ma Q, Lau NC, McKee AC, Hatzipetros T, Abraham CR. Klotho Is Neuroprotective in the Superoxide Dismutase (SOD1G93A) Mouse Model of ALS. J Mol Neurosci. 2019 Oct; 69(2):264-285. PMID:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pubmed\/31250273\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">31250273<\/a><\/span><\/li>\n<li>Gamez S, Srivastav S, Akbari OS, Lau NC. Diverse Defenses: A Perspective Comparing Dipteran Piwi-piRNA Pathways. Cells. 2020 09 27; 9(10). PMID: 32992598<\/li>\n<li>Srivastav SP, Rahman R, Ma Q, Pierre J, Bandyopadhyay S, Lau NC (2019). Har-P, a short P-element variant, weaponizes P-transposase to severely impair Drosophila development. eLife 2019;8:e49948. PMID: 31845649<\/li>\n<li>Zeldich E, Chen CD, Boden E, Howat B, Nasse JS, Zeldich D, Lambert AG, Yuste A, Cherry JD, Mathias RM, Ma Q, Lau NC, McKee AC, Hatzipetros T, Abraham CR. Klotho Is Neuroprotective in the Superoxide Dismutase (SOD1G93A) Mouse Model of ALS. J Mol Neurosci. 2019 Oct; 69(2):264-285. PMID: 31250273<\/li>\n<li>Gushchanskaia ES, Esse R, Ma Q, Lau NC, Grishok A. Interplay between small RNA pathways shapes chromatin landscapes in C. elegans. Nucleic Acids Res. 2019 06 20; 47(11):5603-5616. PMID: 31216042<\/li>\n<li>Kozeretska IA, Shulha VI, Serga SV, Rozhok AI, Protsenko OV, Lau NC (2018). A rapid change in P-element-induced hybrid dysgenesis status in Ukrainian populations of Drosophila melanogaster. Biol Lett. 2018 08; 14(8). PMID: 30135116<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol style=\"text-align: left;\"><\/ol>\n<p class=\"p1\" style=\"text-align: left;\"><span class=\"s1\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8106,"template":"","tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/13291"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/profile"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8106"}],"version-history":[{"count":46,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/13291\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19456,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/profile\/13291\/revisions\/19456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bumc.bu.edu\/biochemcellbio\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}