Rui Zhao, PhD

Publications

• Patrick, A.N., B.J. Schiemann, K. Yang, R. Zhao*, and H. Ford* (2009). Biochemical and functional characterization of 6 Six1 Branchio-Oto-Renal Syndrome mutations. J. Biol. Chem. 284, 20781-20790. * Co-corresponding authors
• Zhang, L., T. Xu, C. Maeder, L. Bud, J. Shanks, J. Nix, C. Guthrie, J.A. Pleiss, R. Zhao (2009). Structural evidence for consecutive Hel308-like modules in the spliceosomal ATPase Brr2. Nature Structure and Molecular Biology. 16, 731-739.
• Liu, W., R. Zhao, C. McFarland, J. Kieft, J. Stepinski, M. Jankowska-Anyszka, A. Niedzwiecka, E. Darzynkiewicz, D. N. M. Jones, and R. Davis (2009). Structural insights into parasite eIF4E binding specificity for m7G AND m2,2,7G mRNA cap. J. Biol. Chem. 284, 31336-31349.
• Pazy, Y., M. A. Motaleb, M. T. Guarnieri, N. W. Charon, R. Zhao, R. E. Silversmith (2010). Identical phosphatase mechanisms achieved through distinct modes of binding phosphoprotein substrate. PNAS. 107, 1924-1929.
• G. Han, L. Bian, F. Li, A. Cotrim, D. Wang, J. B. Liu, Y. Deng, G. Bird, A. Sowers, J. B. Mitchell, J. S. Gutkind, R. Zhao, D. Raben, P. T. Dijke, Y. Refaeli, Q. Zhang, and Z.-J. Wang. (2013). Preventive and therapeutic effects of Smad7 on radiation-induced oral mucositis. Nature Medicine. 19: 421-8.
• Hong, X., J. Zang, J. White, C. Wang, C.H. Pan, R. Zhao, R.C. Murphy, S. Dai, P. Henson, J.W. Kappler, J. Hagman, G. Zhang. (2010). Interaction of JMJD6 with single-stranded RNA. PNAS, 107: 14568-72.
• Guarnieri, M. T., B. S. J. Blagg, R. Zhao (2011). A high throughput TNP-ATP displacement assay for screening inhibitors of ATP-binding in bacterial histidine kinases. Assay and Drug Developement Technologies, 9, 174-183.
• Weizhi Liu, Marzena Jankowska-Anyszka, Karolina Piecyk, Laura Dickson, Adam Wallace, Anna Niedzwiecka, Janusz Stepinski, Ryszard Stolarski, Edward Darzynkiewicz, Jeffrey Kieft, Rui Zhao, David N. M. Jones and Richard E. Davis (2011). Structural basis for nematode eIF4E binding an m2,2,7G-Cap and its implications for translation initiation. Nucleic Acid Research. 39: 8820-32.
• Farabaugh, S.M., Micalizzi, D.S., Jedlicka, P., Zhao, R., and Ford, H.L. (2012). Eya2 Is Required to Mediate the Pro-Metastatic Functions of Six1 Via the Induction of TGF-ß Signaling, Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition, and Cancer Stem Cell Properties. Oncogene. 31: 552-62.
• Y. Deng, H. Deng, J. Liu, G. Han, S. Malkoski, B. Liu, R. Zhao, XJ. Wang, Q. Zhang. (in press). Transcriptional down-regulation of Brca1 and E-cadherin by CtBP in breast cancer. Mol. Carcinog.
• Garrey SM, Katolik A, Prekeris M, Li X, York K, Bernards S, Fields S, Zhao R, Damha MJ, Hesselberth JR. A homolog of lariat-debranching enzyme modulates turnover of branched RNA. RNA. 2014 Aug;20(8):1337-48. PubMed PMID: 24919400
• Wang C, Chen Z, Hong X, Ning F, Liu H, Zang J, Yan X, Kemp J, Musselman CA, Kutateladze TG, Zhao R, Jiang C, Zhang G. The structural basis of urea-induced protein unfolding in ß-catenin. Acta Crystallogr D Biol Crystallogr. 2014 Nov;70(Pt 11):2840-7. PubMed PMID: 25372676
• A.B. Krueger, S.J. Dehdashti, N. Southall, J.J. Marugan, M. Ferrer, X. Li, H. L. Ford, W. Zheng, and R. Zhao. (2013). Identification of a selective small molecule inhibitor series targeting the Eyes Absent 2 (Eya2) phosphatase activity. J. Biomolecular Screening. 18: 85-96 (e-pub ahead of print July 20, 2012).
• Krueger AB, Drasin DJ, Lea WA, Patrick AN, Patnaik S, Backos DS, Matheson CJ, Hu X, Barnaeva E, Holliday MJ, Blevins MA, Robin TP, Eisenmesser EZ, Ferrer M, Simeonov A, Southall N, Reigan P, Marugan J, Ford HL, Zhao R. Allosteric inhibitors of the Eya2 phosphatase are selective and inhibit Eya2-mediated cell migration. J Biol Chem. 2014 Jun 6;289(23):16349-61. PubMed PMID: 24755226
• A.N. Patrick, J.H. Cabrera, A.L. Smith, X.S. Chen, H.L. Ford*, R. Zhao*. (in press). Structural and Functional Analyses of the SIX1/EYA Transcriptional Complex Reveals Insights into Branchio-oto-renal Syndrome and Metastasis. Nature Structural and Molecular Biology. * Co-corresponding authors.
• Blevins MA, Kouznetsova J, Krueger AB, King R, Griner LM, Hu X, Southall N, Marugan JJ, Zhang Q, Ferrer M, Zhao R. Small Molecule, NSC95397, Inhibits the CtBP1-Protein Partner Interaction and CtBP1-Mediated Transcriptional Repression. J Biomol Screen. 2014 Dec 4. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 25477201
• Zhang L, Li X, Hill RC, Qiu Y, Zhang W, Hansen KC, Zhao R. Brr2 plays a role in spliceosomal activation in addition to U4/U6 unwinding. Nucleic Acids Res. 2015 Feb 10. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 25670679
• X. Li, W. Zhang, T. Xu, J. Ramsey, L. Zhang, R. Hill, K. C. Hansen, J. R. Hesselberth, and R. Zhao. (in press). Comprehensive in vivo RNA-binding site analyses reveal a role of Prp8 in spliceosomal assembly. Nucleic Acids Research.
• Blevins MA, Towers CG, Patrick AN, Zhao R, Ford HL. The SIX1-EYA transcriptional complex as a therapeutic target in cancer. Expert Opin Ther Targets. 2015 Feb;19(2):213-25. PubMed PMID: 25555392
• Lingdi Zhang, Melanie A. Blevins, Heide L. Ford, Rui Zhao (2014). Eyes Absent Homolog 2. Atlas Genet Cytogenet Oncol Haematol.
• G. Han, L. Bian, F. Li, A. Cotrim, D. Wang, J. B. Liu, Y. Deng, G. Bird, A. Sowers, J. B. Mitchell, J. S. Gutkind, R. Zhao, D. Raben, P. T. Dijke, Y. Refaeli, Q. Zhang, and Z.-J. Wang. (in press). Preventive and therapeutic effects of Smad7 on radiation-induced oral mucositis. Nature Medicine.
• Lingdi Zhang, Xueni Li, Zhao, R. (in press). Structural analyses of the pre-mRNA splicing machinery. Protein Science.
• Blevins MA, Kouznetsova J, Krueger AB, King R, Griner LM, Hu X, Southall N, Marugan JJ, Zhang Q, Ferrer M, Zhao R. Small Molecule, NSC95397, Inhibits the CtBP1-Protein Partner Interaction and CtBP1-Mediated Transcriptional Repression. J Biomol Screen. 2015 Jun;20(5):663-72. PubMed PMID: 25477201
• Blevins MA, Towers CG, Patrick AN, Zhao R, Ford HL. The SIX1-EYA transcriptional complex as a therapeutic target in cancer. Expert Opin Ther Targets. 2015 Feb;19(2):213-25. PubMed PMID: 25555392
• Zhang L, Li X, Hill RC, Qiu Y, Zhang W, Hansen KC, Zhao R. Brr2 plays a role in spliceosomal activation in addition to U4/U6 unwinding. Nucleic Acids Res. 2015 Mar 31;43(6):3286-97. PubMed PMID: 25670679
• Eya3 partners with PP2A to induce c-Myc stabilization and tumor progression.
• Li X, Liu S, Jiang J, Zhang L, Espinosa S, Hill RC, Hansen KC, Zhou ZH, Zhao R. CryoEM structure of Saccharomyces cerevisiae U1 snRNP offers insight into alternative splicing. Nat Commun. 2017 Oct 19;8(1):1035. PubMed PMID: 29051543
• Liu S, Li X, Zhang L, Jiang J, Hill RC, Cui Y, Hansen KC, Zhou ZH, Zhao R. Structure of the yeast spliceosomal postcatalytic P complex. Science. 2017 Dec 8;358(6368):1278-1283. PubMed PMID: 29146870
• Zhou H, Zhang L, Vartuli RL, Ford HL, Zhao R. The Eya phosphatase: Its unique role in cancer. Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2017 Sep 5. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 28887153
• Espinosa S, Zhang L, Li X, Zhao R. Understanding pre-mRNA splicing through crystallography. Methods. 2017 Aug 1;125:55-62. PubMed PMID: 28506657
• Sara Espinosa and Zhao, R. (2017). Structural and biophysical studies of the splicing machinery. Encyclopedia of Biophysics, 2nd Edition (edited by Gordon C. K. Roberts and Anthony Watts, Springer).
• Blevins MA, Huang M, Zhao R. The Role of CtBP1 in Oncogenic Processes and Its Potential as a Therapeutic Target. Mol Cancer Ther. 2017 Jun;16(6):981-990. PubMed PMID: 28576945
• Zhang L, Zhou H, Li X, Vartuli RL, Rowse M, Xing Y, Rudra P, Ghosh D, Zhao R, Ford HL. Eya3 partners with PP2A to induce c-Myc stabilization and tumor progression. Nat Commun. 2018 Mar 13;9(1):1047. PubMed PMID: 29535359
• Vartuli RL, Zhou H, Zhang L, Powers RK, Klarquist J, Rudra P, Vincent MY, Ghosh D, Costello JC, Kedl RM, Slansky JE, Zhao R, Ford HL. Eya3 promotes breast tumor-associated immune suppression via threonine phosphatase-mediated PD-L1 upregulation. J Clin Invest. 2018 Jun 1;128(6):2535-2550. PubMed PMID: 29757193
• Blevins MA, Zhang C, Zhang L, Li H, Li X, Norris DA, Huang M, Zhao R. CPP-E1A fusion peptides inhibit CtBP-mediated transcriptional repression. Mol Oncol. 2018 Aug;12(8):1358-1373. PubMed PMID: 29879296
• Kappel K, Liu S, Larsen KP, Skiniotis G, Puglisi EV, Puglisi JD, Zhou ZH, Zhao R, Das R. De novo computational RNA modeling into cryo-EM maps of large ribonucleoprotein complexes. Nat Methods. 2018 Nov;15(11):947-954. PubMed PMID: 30377372
• Luo J, Bian L, Blevins MA, Wang D, Liang C, Du D, Wu F, Holwerda B, Zhao R, Raben D, Zhou H, Young CD, Wang XJ. Smad7 Promotes Healing of Radiotherapy-Induced Oral Mucositis without Compromising Oral Cancer Therapy in a Xenograft Mouse Model. Clin Cancer Res. 2019 Jan 15;25(2):808-818. PubMed PMID: 30185419
• Zhou H, Zhang L, Vartuli RL, Ford HL, Zhao R. The Eya phosphatase: Its unique role in cancer. Int J Biochem Cell Biol. 2018 Mar;96:165-170. PubMed PMID: 28887153
• Li X, Liu S, Zhang L, Issaian A, Hill RC, Espinosa S, Shi S, Cui Y, Kappel K, Das R, Hansen KC, Zhou ZH, Zhao R. A unified mechanism for intron and exon definition and back-splicing. Nature. 2019 Sep;573(7774):375-380. PubMed PMID: 31485080
• Zhang L, Vielle A, Espinosa S, Zhao R. RNAs in the spliceosome: Insight from cryoEM structures. Wiley Interdiscip Rev RNA. 2019 May;10(3):e1523. PubMed PMID: 30729694
• Anantharajan J, Zhou H, Zhang L, Hotz T, Vincent MY, Blevins MA, Jansson AE, Kuan JWL, Ng EY, Yeo YK, Baburajendran N, Lin G, Hung AW, Joy J, Patnaik S, Marugan J, Rudra P, Ghosh D, Hill J, Keller TH, Zhao R, Ford HL, Kang C. Structural and Functional Analyses of an Allosteric EYA2 Phosphatase Inhibitor That Has On-Target Effects in Human Lung Cancer Cells. Mol Cancer Ther. 2019 Sep;18(9):1484-1496. PubMed PMID: 31285279
• Eisenmesser EZ, Gottschlich A, Redzic JS, Paukovich N, Nix JC, Azam T, Zhang L, Zhao R, Kieft JS, The E, Meng X, Dinarello CA. Interleukin-37 monomer is the active form for reducing innate immunity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2019 Mar 19;116(12):5514-5522. PubMed PMID: 30819901
• Zhou H, Blevins MA, Hsu JY, Kong D, Galbraith MD, Goodspeed A, Culp-Hill R, Oliphant MUJ, Ramirez D, Zhang L, Trinidad-Pineiro J, Mathews Griner L, King R, Barnaeva E, Hu X, Southall NT, Ferrer M, Gustafson DL, Regan DP, D'Alessandro A, Costello JC, Patnaik S, Marugan J, Zhao R, Ford HL. Identification of a Small-Molecule Inhibitor That Disrupts the SIX1/EYA2 Complex, EMT, and Metastasis. Cancer Res. 2020 Jun 15;80(12):2689-2702. PubMed PMID: 32341035
• Li H, Zhang C, Yang C, Blevins M, Norris D, Zhao R, Huang M. C-terminal binding proteins 1 and 2 in traumatic brain injury-induced inflammation and their inhibition as an approach for anti-inflammatory treatment. Int J Biol Sci. 2020;16(7):1107-1120. PubMed PMID: 32174788
• Duff MR, Redzic JS, Ryan LP, Paukovich N, Zhao R, Nix JC, Pitts TM, Agarwal P, Eisenmesser EZ. Structure, dynamics and function of the evolutionarily changing biliverdin reductase B family. J Biochem. 2020 Aug 1;168(2):191-202. PubMed PMID: 32246827
• De Bortoli F, Espinosa S, Zhao R. DEAH-Box RNA Helicases in Pre-mRNA Splicing. Trends Biochem Sci. 2020 Nov 30. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 33272784
• Shi S, Li X, Zhao R. Detecting circRNA in purified spliceosomal P complex. Methods. 2021 Dec;196:30-35. PubMed PMID: 33577981
• Li H, Zhang C, Bian L, Deng H, Blevins M, Han G, Fan B, Yang C, Zhao R, High W, Norris D, Fujita M, Wang XJ, Huang M. Inhibition of CtBP-Regulated Proinflammatory Gene Transcription Attenuates Psoriatic Skin Inflammation. J Invest Dermatol. 2021 Jul 20. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 34293351
• Zhang G, Dong Z, Gimple RC, Wolin A, Wu Q, Qiu Z, Wood LM, Shen JZ, Jiang L, Zhao L, Lv D, Prager BC, Kim LJY, Wang X, Zhang L, Anderson RL, Moore JK, Bao S, Keller TH, Lin G, Kang C, Hamerlik P, Zhao R, Ford HL, Rich JN. Targeting EYA2 tyrosine phosphatase activity in glioblastoma stem cells induces mitotic catastrophe. J Exp Med. 2021 Nov 1;218(11). PubMed PMID: 34617969
• Anantharajan J, Baburajendran N, Lin G, Loh YY, Xu W, Ahmad NHB, Liu S, Jasson AE, Kuan JWL, Ng EY, Yeo YK, Hung AW, Joy J, Hill J, Ford HL, Zhao R, Keller TH, Kang C. Structure-activity relationship studies of allosteric inhibitors of EYA2 tyrosine phosphatase. Protein Sci. 2021 Nov 11. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 34761455
• Espinosa S, De Bortoli F, Li X, Rossi J, Wagley ME, Lo HG, Taliaferro JM, Zhao R. Human PRPF39 is an alternative splicing factor recruiting U1 snRNP to weak 5' splice sites. RNA. 2022 Oct 31;29(1):97-110. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 36316087
• Li H, Zhang C, Bian L, Deng H, Blevins M, Han G, Fan B, Yang C, Zhao R, High W, Norris D, Fujita M, Wang XJ, Huang M. Inhibition of CtBP-Regulated Proinflammatory Gene Transcription Attenuates Psoriatic Skin Inflammation. J Invest Dermatol. 2022 Feb;142(2):390-401. PubMed PMID: 34293351
• Anantharajan J, Baburajendran N, Lin G, Loh YY, Xu W, Ahmad NHB, Liu S, Jansson AE, Kuan JWL, Ng EY, Yeo YK, Hung AW, Joy J, Hill J, Ford HL, Zhao R, Keller TH, Kang C. Structure-activity relationship studies of allosteric inhibitors of EYA2 tyrosine phosphatase. Protein Sci. 2022 Feb;31(2):422-431. PubMed PMID: 34761455
• Chalivendra S, Shi S, Li X, Kuang Z, Giovinazzo J, Zhang L, Rossi J, Saviola AJ, Wang J, Welty R, Liu S, Vaeth K, Zhou ZH, Hansen KC, Taliaferro JM, Zhao R. Selected humanization of yeast U1 snRNP leads to global suppression of pre-mRNA splicing and mitochondrial dysfunction in the budding yeast. bioRxiv. 2023 Dec 15. PubMed PMID: 38168357
• Lee E, Redzic JS, Saviola AJ, Li X, Ebmeier CC, Kutateladze T, Hansen KC, Zhao R, Ahn N, Sluchanko NN, Eisenmesser E. Molecular insight into the specific interactions of the SARS-Coronavirus-2 nucleocapsid with RNA and host protein. Protein Sci. 2023 Apr;32(4):e4603. PubMed PMID: 36807437
• Alderman C, Krueger A, Rossi J, Ford HL, Zhao R. In Vitro Phosphatase Assays for the Eya2 Tyrosine Phosphatase. Methods Mol Biol. 2024;2743:285-300. PubMed PMID: 38147222

Practice Locations

UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital (UCH)
12605 E. 16th Ave
Aurora, CO 80045
720-848-0000