m6A · RNA regulation · Cancer

Zaccara Lab

Columbia University Irving Medical Center

Welcome to our lab

Zaccara Lab — Columbia University

We develop quantitative, high‑throughput and single‑cell approaches to map and functionally interrogate m6A RNA methylation and its impact on gene expression and disease.

Our Research Key Publications

Principal investigator

Sara Zaccara, PhD

Assistant Professor, Department of Systems Biology

Dr Zaccara studies m6A epitranscriptomics and post‑transcriptional gene regulation. She completed her PhD at the University of Trento and postdoctoral training at Weill Cornell Medicine before joining Columbia in 2022.

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Research Programmes

Four complementary programmes

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Function and redundancy of m6A reader proteins

How do YTH domain-containing readers interpret m6A methylation to control mRNA fate?

Single‑cell and spatial mapping of m6A methylomes

How does m6A distribution vary between individual cells and cell states, and what are the consequences for cellular identity?

m6A regulation in haematopoiesis and acute myeloid leukaemia (AML)

Which m6A regulators drive oncogenic programmes in AML, and can m6A perturbation alter leukaemic cell fate?

Review figure/summary (Studying m6A in the brain) that highlights genetically encoded m6A-sensor approaches including GEMS and places them in context of live-cell imaging methods for m6A dynamics.

Genetic tools and imaging to read and manipulate m6A‑marked RNAs

Can genetically encoded sensors and perturbation tools be used to visualise and functionally alter m6A dynamics in living cells?

Selected publications

Recent and defining work

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2020

A Unified Model for the Function of YTHDF Proteins in Regulating m6A‑Modified mRNA

Cell

↗2019

Reading, writing and erasing mRNA methylation

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology / review

↗2023

Direct m6A recognition by IMP1 underlays an alternative model of target selection for non‑canonical methyl‑readers

Nature Communications / related (author contribution)

↗2023

Single‑nucleus multiomic mapping of m6A methylomes and transcriptomes in native populations of cells with sn‑m6A‑CT

Genome / Methods (single‑cell m6A)

↗2021

Understanding the redundant functions of the m6A‑binding YTHDF proteins

RNA Biology / perspectives & follow‑ups

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Opportunities