Classification and functional prediction of long non-coding RNA

Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNA) are involved in a variety of regulatory roles and diseases, but remain poorly understood. One of the main bottlenecks for understanding their biological role is the lack of tools for classifying them or predicting their function. Therefore, there is a pressing need for developing new frameworks for characterising and studying lncRNAs.

We hypothesise that subcellular localisation of lncRNAs is intimately linked with their function. Thus, studying lncRNA subcellular expression could give first insights to categorise lncRNAs.

Therefore, the main objectives of my PhD are to create a large and extensive subcellular map of lncRNAs based on RNA sequencing data; allocate lncRNAs into different subcellular expression profiles and compare them with mRNAs; study distinguishing features from the previous groups as a first step to define classes of lncRNAs, their properties and implications on biological roles and diseases.