The 3’-untranslated regions (3’-UTRs) of genes play an important role in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression, localization, stability and translation. Regulatory motifs in the 3’-UTRs could influence the stability and translation of their corresponding messenger RNAs, and perturbations in these regulatory mechanisms can lead to disease. During this project, I used RNA-seq gene expression data and machine learning approaches to refine the existing landscape of 3’-UTRs in the human genome and to identify novel 3’-UTR elements. My work identified potential regulatory mechanisms associated with novel 3’-UTRs in disease, and has provided a framework for identifying potential novel therapeutic targets.

Siddharth is currently a Research Associate in the Discovery Technologies (Bioinformatics) Department at Astex Pharmaceuticals.