We are interested in decoding the mechanisms underpinning diversification of antibody genes, to gain insight into how B cells can effectively fight infections, how these responses change through our lives and the role this plays in age-related immune dysfunction.
Our group is focused on the study of a class of RNA remodelling enzymes called RNA helicases. This interest stems from our discovery on the roles of DDX1 and G-quadruplex (G4) RNA structures in targeting the DNA mutator enzyme AID to the immunoglobulin heavy-chain (IgH) locus, to initiate Class Switch Recombination (CSR) (Ribeiro de Almeida et al, Mol. Cell 2018). RNA helicases are ubiquitous proteins that dynamically remodel the structure of RNA molecules, thereby controlling various steps of gene expression. The dysfunction of these proteins has been implicated in diverse pathologies but their roles in the immune system remain mostly unknown.
We use a number of cellular and molecular biology tools together with mouse genetics, cell culture systems and in vitro biochemical assays, to gain in depth understanding on the role of RNA helicases in B cell biology. We also employ state-of-the-art genomics and proteomics approaches to profile RNA-protein interactions that control developmental stages when B cells undergo recombination at their antibody genes.
Pettinati I, Grzechnik P, Ribeiro de Almeida C, Brem J, McDonough MA, Dhir S, Proudfoot NJ, Schofield CJ
eLife, PMID: 305073802018
Nojima T, Tellier M, Foxwell J, Ribeiro de Almeida C, Tan-Wong SM, Dhir S, Dujardin G, Dhir A, Murphy S, Proudfoot NJ
Molecular cell, PMID: 304497232018
Ribeiro de Almeida C, Dhir S, Dhir A, Moghaddam AE, Sattentau Q, Meinhart A, Proudfoot NJ
Molecular cell, PMID: 297314142018
Gillian Taylor, Lewis Macdonald, Natalia Szulc, Evelina Gudauskaite, Brianda Hernandez Moran, Jennifer Brisbane, Molly Donald, Ella Taylor, Dejin Zheng, Bin Gu, Pleasantine Mill, Patricia Yeyati, Wojciech Pokrzywa, Claudia Ribeiro de Almeida, Andrew Wood
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.06.18.660429v1
Rachael Kimber, Sarah Ingelsfield, Michael Screen, Fiamma Salerno, Louise Matheson, Hanneke Okkenhaug, Alex Whale, Jayalini Assalaarachchi, Melanie Stammers, Deniz Akdeniz, Simon Andrews, Claudia Ribeiro de Almeida
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.01.10.632317v1