Education

Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, University of Pennsylvania, 2000

Current position

Associate Professor, Department of Biological Chemistry, University of California, Los Angeles (2011-present)

Publications (since 2005)

1. Barr, I., Weitz, S. H., Atkin, T., Hsu, P., Karayiorgou, M., Gogos, J. A., Weiss, S. and Guo, F. (2015). Cobalt(III) Protoporphyrin Activates the DGCR8 Protein and Can Compensate microRNA Processing Deficiency. Chem Biol 22(6): 793-802.
   
2. Barr, I. and Guo, F. (2014). Primary microRNA processing assay reconstituted using recombinant Drosha and DGCR8. Methods Mol Biol 1095: 73-86.
   
3. Weitz, S. H., Gong, M., Barr, I., Weiss, S. and Guo, F. (2014). Processing of microRNA primary transcripts requires heme in mammalian cells. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 111(5): 1861-1866.
   
4. Chin, R. M., Fu, X., Pai, M. Y., Vergnes, L., Hwang, H., Deng, G., Diep, S., Lomenick, B., Meli, V. S., Monsalve, G. C., Hu, E., Whelan, S. A., Wang, J. X., Jung, G., Solis, G. M., Fazlollahi, F., Kaweeteerawat, C., Quach, A., Nili, M., Krall, A. S., Godwin, H. A., Chang, H. R., Faull, K. F., Guo, F., Jiang, M., Trauger, S. A., Saghatelian, A., Braas, D., Christofk, H. R., Clarke, C. F., Teitell, M. A., Petrascheck, M., Reue, K., Jung, M. E., Frand, A. R. and Huang, J. (2014). The metabolite alpha-ketoglutarate extends lifespan by inhibiting ATP synthase and TOR. Nature 510(7505): 397-401.
   
5. Quick-Cleveland, J., Jacob, J. P., Weitz, S. H., Shoffner, G., Senturia, R. and Guo, F. (2014). The DGCR8 RNA-binding heme domain recognizes primary microRNAs by clamping the hairpin. Cell Rep 7(6): 1994-2005.
   
6. Barr, I., Smith, A. T., Chen, Y., Senturia, R., Burstyn, J. N. and Guo, F. (2012). Ferric, not ferrous, heme activates RNA-binding protein DGCR8 for primary microRNA processing. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 109(6): 1919-1924.
   
7. Meer, E. J., Wang, D. O., Kim, S., Barr, I., Guo, F. and Martin, K. C. (2012). Identification of a cis-acting element that localizes mRNA to synapses. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 109(12): 4639-4644.
   
8. Gong, M., Chen, Y., Senturia, R., Ulgherait, M., Faller, M. and Guo, F. (2012). Caspases cleave and inhibit the microRNA processing protein DiGeorge Critical Region 8. Protein Sci 21(6): 797-808.
   
9. Senturia, R., Laganowsky, A., Barr, I., Scheidemantle, B. D. and Guo, F. (2012). Dimerization and heme binding are conserved in amphibian and starfish homologues of the microRNA processing protein DGCR8. PLoS One 7(7): e39688.
   
10. Barr, I., Smith, A. T., Senturia, R., Chen, Y., Scheidemantle, B. D., Burstyn, J. N. and Guo, F. (2011). DiGeorge critical region 8 (DGCR8) is a double-cysteine-ligated heme protein. J Biol Chem 286(19): 16716-16725.
    
11. Januszyk, K., Fleissner, M. R., Atchabahian, L., Shieh, F. K., Altenbach, C., Martin, S. L., Guo, F., Hubbell, W. L. and Clubb, R. T. (2011). Site-directed spin labeling electron paramagnetic resonance study of the ORF1 protein from a mouse L1 retrotransposon. Protein Sci 20(7): 1231-1243.
    
12. Senturia, R., Faller, M., Yin, S., Loo, J. A., Cascio, D., Sawaya, M. R., Hwang, D., Clubb, R. T. and Guo, F. (2010). Structure of the dimerization domain of DiGeorge critical region 8. Protein Sci 19(7): 1354-1365.
    
13. Faller, M., Toso, D., Matsunaga, M., Atanasov, I., Senturia, R., Chen, Y., Zhou, Z. H. and Guo, F. (2010). DGCR8 recognizes primary transcripts of microRNAs through highly cooperative binding and formation of higher-order structures. RNA 16(8): 1570-1583.
    
14. Miallau, L., Faller, M., Chiang, J., Arbing, M., Guo, F., Cascio, D. and Eisenberg, D. (2009). Structure and proposed activity of a member of the VapBC family of toxin-antitoxin systems. VapBC-5 from Mycobacterium tuberculosis. J Biol Chem 284(1): 276-283.
    
15. Faller, M. and Guo, F. (2008). MicroRNA biogenesis: there's more than one way to skin a cat. Biochim Biophys Acta 1779(11): 663-667. (Invited review article)
    
16. Wang, Q., Barr, I., Guo, F. and Lee, C. (2008). Evidence of a novel RNA secondary structure in the coding region of HIV-1 pol gene. RNA 14(12): 2478-2488.
    
17. Ghosh, K., Guo, F. and Van Duyne, G. D. (2007). Synapsis of loxP sites by Cre recombinase. J Biol Chem 282(33): 24004-24016.
    
18. Faller, M., Matsunaga, M., Yin, S., Loo, J. A. and Guo, F. (2007). Heme is involved in microRNA processing. Nat Struct Mol Biol 14(1): 23-29.
    
19. Guo, F., Gooding, A. R. and Cech, T. R. (2006). Comparison of crystal structure interactions and thermodynamics for stabilizing mutations in the Tetrahymena ribozyme. RNA 12(3): 387-395.
    
20. Ghosh, K., Lau, C. K., Guo, F., Segall, A. M. and Van Duyne, G. D. (2005). Peptide trapping of the Holliday junction intermediate in Cre-loxP site-specific recombination. J Biol Chem 280(9): 8290-8299.
    

Invited book chapters and an edited book

1. Guo, F. (2012). Drosha and DGCR8 in microRNA biogenesis. In: Guo, F. and Tamanoi, F. (eds). The enzymes: eukaryotic RNases and their partners in RAN degradation and biogenesis, Part B 1^st edition. Elsevier Inc.
   
2. Guo, F. (2011). Heme and microRNA biogenesis. In: Zhang, L. (ed). Heme biology: the secret life of heme in regulating diverse biological processes 1^st edition. World Scientific.