Natoya Peart

Dr. Natoya Peart is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology and a biomedical researcher interested in understanding how RNA processing and the modulation of RNA processing influences cell fate and contributes to tissue development and disease.

Her research focuses on RNA binding proteins (RBPs), a large and diverse class of proteins that bind RNA and regulate splicing, polyadenylation, export, decay and translation to control gene expression. Tissue‑ and cell‑type‑specific expression of RBPs enables temporal and spatial regulation of gene expression. Research in the Peart Lab focuses on alternative splicing, alternative polyadenylation and protein–RNA interactions in the context of epithelial cell biology. A major area of focus is elucidating the roles of the tissue‑specific RNA binding protein Epithelial Splicing Regulatory Protein 1 (ESRP1) in regulating aspects of the mRNA life cycle and how this contributes to tissue development and disease. Previous work has shown that knockout of ESRP1 in mice results in morphogenic defects, including cleft lip and cleft palate, kidney agenesis, inner ear defects and female infertility. Currently, her lab employs a variety of experimental methodologies (including 2D and 3D cell culture, genome-wide and gene specific molecular approaches) to interrogate RNA processing regulated by ESRP1 and how this contributes to epithelial cell integrity, including cell adhesion, cell permeability, and cell polarity.

Peart’s research impacts human health and well‑being by addressing diseases associated with epithelial barrier dysfunction, including inflammatory bowel disease and skin diseases such as dermatitis. Her work builds a critical knowledge base that can be used in the future to develop, optimize and personalize treatments. By increasing understanding of how epithelial tissues develop and function, her research supports improved therapies for diseases affecting many people worldwide.

• RNA and disease

• Eukaryotic gene expression

• RNA biology

• Cell biology

• Molecular genetics

• Developmental biology

• 2016, PhD Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, United States of America

• 2010, BS Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University, United States of America

• 2021, Johnson Foundation Fellow, Biochemistry and Biophysics, University of Pennsylvania

• 2021, Stanford.Berkely.UCSF Next Generation Faculty Symposium Fellow

• 2020, Listed on the Cell Mentor 1000 Inspiring Black Scientists in America

• 2015, Friends of FSH Research Graduate Fellowship

• 2015, UTHealth McGovern Medical School Dean’s Research Scholarship Award

• 2013, Schissler Foundation Fellowship for Translational Studies of Common Diseases

• 2006, Prime Ministers Youth Award for Excellence – Academics. Jamaica, West Indies

• RNA Canada

• RNA Society

• American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

• Canadian Black Scientist Network

• American Society for Cell Biology

• BIOL 308 - Principles of Molecular Biology
  • Taught in 2025
• BIOL 434 - Human Molecular Genetics
  • Taught in 2024

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• For the full list of Natoya Peart's publications, please see Google Scholar.

• Natoya J. Peart, Jae Yeon Hwang, Mathieu Quesnel-Vallières, Matthew J. Sears, Yuequin Yang, Peter Stoilov, Yoseph Barash, Juw Won Park, Kristen W. Lynch, Russ P. Carstens, (2022). The global Protein-RNA interaction map of ESRP1 defines a post-transcriptional program that is essential for epithelial cell function, iScience, Volume 25, Issue 10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2022.105205

• Lee S, Cieply B, Yang Y, Peart N, Glaser C, Chan P, Carstens RP. (2018) Esrp1-Regulated Splicing of Arhgef11 Isoforms Is Required for Epithelial Tight Junction Integrity. Cell Rep ;25(9):2417-2430.e5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2018.10.097.

• Rohacek AM, Bebee TW, Tilton RK, Radens CM, McDermott-Roe C, Peart N, Kaur M, Zaykaner M, Cieply B, Musunuru K, Barash Y, Germiller JA, Krantz ID, Carstens RP, Epstein DJ. (2017) ESRP1 Mutations Cause Hearing Loss due to Defects in Alternative Splicing that Disrupt Cochlear Development. Dev Cell. ;43(3):318-331.e5. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.devcel.2017.09.026.

• Peart, N., Wagner, E.J. (2017). A distal auxiliary element facilitates cleavage and polyadenylation of Dux4 mRNA in the pathogenic haplotype of FSHD. Hum Genet 136, 1291–1301 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00439-017-1813-8

• Peart NJ, Johnson TA, Lee S, Sears MJ, Yang F, Quesnel-Vallières M, et al. (2022) The germ cell-specific RNA binding protein RBM46 is essential for spermatogonial differentiation in mice. PLoS Genet 18(9): e1010416. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pgen.1010416