Maria spleter博士来自中西部。 当她在显微镜学、转录组学和肌肉生物学方面的专业知识使她成为新成立的科学与工程学院的理想人选时，她感到非常兴奋。
Spletter’s research focuses on how muscles attain different contractile properties during development. 构建肌肉的蛋白质是由我们DNA中的基因编码的，肌肉调节其功能的一种方式是通过选择性剪接产生同一基因的不同版本或同种异构体。
这个过程很重要，在肌肉疾病中经常被破坏，导致肌肉功能丧失。
“My research interests are focused on understanding the regulation and function of RNA-processing during muscle development,” Spletter says. “To do this, we employ diverse techniques from developmental genetics and cell biology to transcriptomics, bioinformatics and biochemistry.”
Spletter’s background in Drosophila (fruit fly) genetics will integrate well with the diverse model organisms currently in use at 威尼斯人娱乐城. 此外，她的实验室利用果蝇研究调节选择性剪接的蛋白质，并确定哪些同种异构体在不同肌肉中表达。
她的团队研究了Bruno 1， Rbfox1， Scaf6和Ime4蛋白在正常肌肉发育中的作用，以及这些蛋白的错误调节如何导致功能障碍和肌肉疾病。
“Our long-term goal is to build a comprehensive understanding of the regulatory network of RNA-binding proteins that influence cytoskeletal assembly during the formation of skeletal muscular tissue during development, and that ultimately define the contractile properties of different muscle fiber types,” Spletter says. “This work is human disease relevant, as misregulation of RNA processing is observed in muscle disease, and a deeper understanding of RNA-binding protein function may lead to new therapies or drug targets.”
spleter将于9月1日开始在威尼斯人娱乐城工作。