Annum Munir

Academic Writer, Research Scientist and an aspiring Medical Communicator

United States

I am a Ph.D. student at Memorial Sloan Kettering and Weill Cornell Medicine living my 20s dream life in Manhattan. I will be graduating in a few months & soon after that people will start calling me Doctor ( I will have to get used to that title! ) Currently, I am looking to transition into the field of Medical Writing and Science Communication.

I am originally from Pakistan. I obtained my undergraduate degree in Biology from a renowned university in Lahore, Pakistan and then decided to come to the US to pursue higher education. I have published extensively during my research career and by using this platform, I have put together a few specimens of my bench science writing.

My passion is to understand complex technical science ideas, distill them into user-friendly content for customers and engage in improving digital marketing for companies.

I will be happy to chat more! Please drop me a message at annum.munir@gmail.com. Cheers!

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Portfolio

Published Research Articles

Nature Communications
01/15/2019
Structure of tRNA splicing enzyme Tpt1 illuminates the mechanism of RNA 2′-PO 4 recognition and...

Tpt1 is an essential agent of fungal tRNA splicing that removes the 2′-PO 4 at the splice junction generated by fungal tRNA ligase. Tpt1 catalyzes a unique two-step reaction whereby the 2′-PO 4 attacks NAD+ to form an RNA-2′-phospho-ADP-ribosyl intermediate that undergoes transesterification to yield 2′-OH RNA and ADP-ribose-1″,2″-cyclic phosphate products.

OUP Academic
10/12/2018
NAD-dependent synthesis of a 5′-phospho-ADP-ribosylated RNA/DNA cap by RNA 2′-phosphotransferase...

Tpt1 is an enzyme that catalyzes the transfer of an internal RNA 2′-monophosphate (2′-PO 4) to NAD+ to form a 2′-OH RNA, ADP-ribose 1″-2″ cyclic phosphate, and nicotinamide ( 1). Tpt1 was first discovered as an essential component of the fungal tRNA splicing pathway ( 2-5), which characteristically generates a 2′-PO 4, 3′-5′ phosphodiester splice junction during the tRNA ligation reaction ( 6, 7).

RNA Society
06/08/2018
Two-step mechanism and step-arrest mutants of Runella slithyformis NAD+ -dependent tRNA...

Tpt1 catalyzes the transfer of an internal 2′-monophosphate moiety (2′-PO4) from a “branched” 2′-PO4 RNA splice junction to NAD+ to form a “clean” 2′-OH, 3′-5′ phosphodiester junction, ADP-ribose 1″-2″ cyclic phosphate, and nicotinamide. First discovered as an essential component of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae tRNA splicing machinery, Tpt1 is widely distributed in nature, including in taxa that have no yeast-like RNA splicing system. Here we characterize the RslTpt1 protein from the...

Journal of Bacteriology
12/15/2014
Structures of Bacterial Polynucleotide Kinase in a Michaelis Complex with Nucleoside Triphosphate...

Clostridium thermocellum polynucleotide kinase ( Cth Pnk), the 5′-end-healing module of a bacterial RNA repair system, catalyzes reversible phosphoryl transfer from a nucleoside triphosphate (NTP) donor to a 5′-OH polynucleotide acceptor, either DNA or RNA. Here we report the 1.5-Å crystal structure of Cth Pnk-D38N in a Michaelis complex with GTP-Mg2+ and a 5′-OH RNA oligonucleotide.

Scientific Writing

Literature review
Elucidating the Structural and Energetic determinants of selective ligand binding in Insect...

Nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs) are neurotransmitter gated ion channels that mediate fast cholinergic synaptic activity in both vertebrates and invertebrates. In the past few decades, they have become an important pesticide target. This study aims to address the problem of non-specific insecticide binding to the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors of different insect species.

Literature review
The discovery of anti-sense circular RNAs - what are these circles doing inside the cell?

The advent of high-throughput genome-wide RNA sequencing has revealed that a small portion of the human genome (~2%) is transcribed into circular RNAs - a novel class of non-coding RNAs. This in-depth research proposal talks about the circular antisense transcript of a gene called Cerebellar Degeneration Related antigen-1, abbreviated as CDR1-AS. CDR1-AS is primarily expressed in neuronal tissues and its over expression has been associated with autoimmune neurological disorders and certain...

Ph.D. Candidacy Proposal
Regulation of human CDR1 expression by the circular antisense (CDR1-AS) and its microRNA binding...

The overarching goal of this research proposal is to determine the mechanisms by which expression of CDR1 is regulated by its cognate antisense partner CDR1-AS, and to unravel the role played by microRNAs in influencing this process. The proposed study will improve our understanding of circRNA mediated gene regulation, paving the way for future design of treatment strategies for Paraneoplastic Cerebellar Degeneration.

Short write-ups & Calligraphy samples

Post-event write up
09/12/2017
LUMS New York Alumni Chapter Holds Annual Reunion

Being the Ambassador and Secretary of my undergraduate university's Alumni chapter in NY, I organized and hosted this event and submitted post-event pictures and write-up. My article was featured in the university's newsletter.

Hobbies
Learning the art of calligraphic writing

In my spare time, I like experimenting with different writing styles. I have self-learned different calligraphic fonts and I love doing decorative writing on cakes/cupcakes, as well on plain notepads. Here a few snapshots of my writing styles...