Email

anthony.mustoe@bcm.edu

Positions

Assistant Professor

Biochemistry - Administration
Baylor College of Medicine

Addresses

T303 (Lab)

One Baylor Plaza
Houston, TX 77030
United States
https://mustoelab.org/

Education

PhD from University of Michigan

12/2014 - Ann Arbor, MI

Biophysics

Postdoctoral Fellowship at University of North Carolina

12/2020 - Chapel Hill, NC

Professional Interests

• Discovery and function of RNA structure and dynamics in RNA metabolism

Professional Statement

The goal of my laboratory is to define the sequence-structure-function relationships that underpin mRNA regulation and non-coding function in cells. We aim to translate our findings into mechanistic understanding of RNA dysregulation in disease, develop new precision therapeutics for targeting RNA, and enable bioengineering of mRNAs with customizable regulatory programs.

RNAs are inherently driven to fold back on themselves into complex structures and these structures influence every aspect of RNA function. However, studying RNA folding and dynamics as it exists inside cells has remained a long-standing challenge. A primary focus of the lab is to develop new chemical and computational methods that enable high-throughput quantitative measurement of RNA structure and dynamics inside of living cells.

Knowledge of RNA structure in turn provides a foundation for defining biophysical mechanisms of RNA regulation. Key motivating questions include how do RNAs encode the specificity of their interactions with microRNAs and RNA binding proteins, how do RNAs integrate multiple signals to achieve nonlinear, combinatorial regulatory outcomes, and how do mutations promote aberrant mRNA regulation in human disease? In addition to our core structural biology expertise, our work on these questions incorporates traditional biochemistry, molecular biology, genetics, bioinformatics, and computational modeling.

We are dedicated to collaboration and interdisciplinary science, and one of our core missions is to provide a supportive environment for young scientists to gain integrated training at the interface of experiment and computation. We seek to maximize the impact of our work through open source distribution of our data and methods, and via extensive collaboration with diverse colleagues both locally and around the world.

Selected Publications

• C.A. Weidmann, A.M. Mustoe, P.B. Jariwala, J.M. Calabrese, K.M. Weeks "Analysis of RNA–protein networks with RNP-MaP defines functional hubs on RNA.." Nature Biotechnol. 2021; Pubmed PMID: 33077962
• A.M. Mustoe, S. Busan, G.M. Rice, C.E. Hajdin, B.K. Peterson, V.M. Ruda, N. Kubica, R. Nutiu, J.L. Baryza, and K.M. Weeks "Pervasive regulatory functions of mRNA structure revealed by high-resolution SHAPE probing." Cell. 2018; Pubmed PMID: 29551268
• A.M. Mustoe, N.N. Lama, P.S. Irving, S.W. Olson, K.M. Weeks. "RNA base pairing complexity in living cells visualized by correlated chemical probing.." Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 2019; Pubmed PMID: 31744869
• S.W. Olson, A.W. Turner, J.W. Arney, I. Saleem, C.A. Weidmann, D.M. Margolis, K.M. Weeks*, and A.M. Mustoe* "Discovery of a large-scale, cell-state-responsive allosteric switch in the 7SK RNA using DANCE-MaP." Mol. Cell. 2022;82:1708-1723.e10. Pubmed PMID: 35320755

Funding

Recruitment Award

$2,000,000.00 Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas

Beckman Young Investigator

(09/01/2022 - 08/31/2026) Arnold and Mabel Beckman Foundation