Ankur Jain

Ankur Jain

Thomas D. and Virginia M. Cabot Career Development Professor; Core Member, Whitehead Institute

Ankur Jain investigates the role of RNA self-assembly in cellular organization and neurodegenerative disease.

617-452-3563

Phone

WI-561C

Office

ajain@wi.mit.edu

Email

Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research

Location

Lab Website
Beverly Dobson

Assistant

617-258-5214

Assistant Phone

Education

  • PhD, 2013, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
  • BTech, 2007,  Biotechnology and Biochemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur

Research Summary

We study how biomolecules in a cell self-organize. In particular, we are interested in understanding how membrane-free cellular compartments such as RNA granules form and function. Our lab develops new biochemical and biophysical techniques to investigate these compartments and to understand their dysfunction in human disease.

Awards

  • Young Alumni Achiever's Award, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, 2019
  • NIH K99/R00 Pathway to Independence Award, 2017
  • Pew Scholar in the Biomedical Sciences, 2022

Key Publications

  1. RNA phase transitions in repeat expansion disorders. Jain, A, Vale, RD. 2017. Nature 546, 243-247.
    doi: 10.1038/nature22386PMID:28562589
  2. Stoichiometry and assembly of mTOR complexes revealed by single-molecule pulldown. Jain, A, Arauz, E, Aggarwal, V, Ikon, N, Chen, J, Ha, T. 2014. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 111, 17833-8.
    doi: 10.1073/pnas.1419425111PMID:25453101
  3. Probing cellular protein complexes using single-molecule pull-down. Jain, A, Liu, R, Ramani, B, Arauz, E, Ishitsuka, Y, Ragunathan, K, Park, J, Chen, J, Xiang, YK, Ha, T et al.. 2011. Nature 473, 484-8.
    doi: 10.1038/nature10016PMID:21614075

Recent Publications

  1. Transcriptome-wide RNA accessibility mapping reveals structured RNA elements and pervasive conformational rearrangements under stress. Farenhem, K, Whitfield, TW, Chouloute, A, Jain, A. 2025. bioRxiv , .
    doi: 10.1101/2025.06.05.658101PMID:40502122
  2. Genetically encoded fluorescent reporter for polyamines. Sharma, P, Kim, CY, Keys, HR, Imada, S, Joseph, AB, Ferro, L, Kunchok, T, Anderson, R, Sun, Y, Yilmaz, ÖH et al.. 2025. Nat Commun 16, 4921.
    doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-60147-zPMID:40425580
  3. Sequence-encoded intermolecular base pairing modulates fluidity in DNA and RNA condensates. Majumder, S, Coupe, S, Fakhri, N, Jain, A. 2025. Nat Commun 16, 4258.
    doi: 10.1038/s41467-025-59456-0PMID:40335475
  4. Genetically encoded fluorescent reporter for polyamines. Sharma, P, Kim, CY, Keys, HR, Imada, S, Joseph, AB, Ferro, L, Kunchok, T, Anderson, R, Yilmaz, O, Weng, JK et al.. 2024. bioRxiv , .
    doi: 10.1101/2024.08.24.609500PMID:39253442
  5. Sequence programmable nucleic acid coacervates. Majumder, S, Coupe, S, Fakhri, N, Jain, A. 2024. bioRxiv , .
    doi: 10.1101/2024.07.22.604687PMID:39091847
  6. CAG repeat expansions create splicing acceptor sites and produce aberrant repeat-containing RNAs. Anderson, R, Das, MR, Chang, Y, Farenhem, K, Schmitz, CO, Jain, A. 2024. Mol Cell 84, 702-714.e10.
    doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2024.01.006PMID:38295802
  7. CAG repeat expansions create splicing acceptor sites and produce aberrant repeat-containing RNAs. Anderson, R, Das, M, Chang, Y, Farenhem, K, Jain, A. 2023. bioRxiv , .
    doi: 10.1101/2023.10.16.562581PMID:37904984
  8. Repeat-associated non-AUG translation induces cytoplasmic aggregation of CAG repeat-containing RNAs. Das, MR, Chang, Y, Anderson, R, Saunders, RA, Zhang, N, Tomberlin, CP, Vale, RD, Jain, A. 2023. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 120, e2215071120.
    doi: 10.1073/pnas.2215071120PMID:36623192
  9. Single-molecule analysis of specificity and multivalency in binding of short linear substrate motifs to the APC/C. Hartooni, N, Sung, J, Jain, A, Morgan, DO. 2022. Nat Commun 13, 341.
    doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-28031-2PMID:35039540
  10. Osmotic Stress Triggers Phase Separation. Majumder, S, Jain, A. 2020. Mol Cell 79, 876-877.
    doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2020.09.001PMID:32946761

Multimedia

 

Photo courtesy of Ankur Jain