May 27

May 29

Launched in April 2020, the goal of the RNA Collaborative seminar series is to cross-promote RNA research to strengthen and connect the RNA scientific community. Proposed by the University of Michigan (U-M) Center for RNA Biomedicine, this initiative received great enthusiasm from seven RNA research centers. The group was quickly joined by two more centers and endorsed by The RNA Society: “Your multi-institutional seminar series is a fantastic idea, and I am not surprised that it has generated interest and excitement,” wrote Kristian Baker, CEO of The RNA Society.

[Read more…] about U-M Center for RNA Biomedicine hosts the RNA Collaborative Seminar Series, May 6, 2020

The election of professors Janet L. Smith and Arul Chinnaiyan, both members of the Center for RNA Biomedicine Strategic Advisory Board, to the National Academy of Sciences is an outstanding validation of the excellence of the RNA research at the University of Michigan. Members are elected to the National Academy of Sciences in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research. Membership is a widely accepted mark of excellence in science and is considered one of the highest honors that a scientist can receive. Congrats Janet and Arul!

[Read more…] about Two RNA Biomedicine experts are elected to the National Academy of Sciences

“Martina Jerant is brimming with energy, big ideas and “outside the box” thinking, which has been instrumental in achieving the Center for RNA Biomedicine’s mission to build bridges across our large campus through a broad range of activities that Martina handles essentially on her own, with little input from us, and all extraordinarily competently,” wrote the U-M Center for RNA Biomedicine (CRB) co-directors, Mats Ljungman and Nils Walter, in their nomination letter for the “U-M Staff Impact Award.”

For the last three-and-a-half years as the Manager of the CRB, initially jointly as a Lab Manager for the Walter group (LSA Chemistry), Jerant has brought creativity, positive attitude and superb interpersonal skills to everything she does. And she does a lot, initiating numerous network collaborations and contributing to the RNA scientific community, as well as engaging her colleagues in M-Healthy and stress management activities among others.

[Read more…] about Martina Jerant, Manager of the Center for RNA Biomedicine, receives the University of Michigan Staff Impact Award from among 75 nominees

The grassroots Center for RNA Biomedicine at the University of Michigan involves among its opt-in membership RNA scientists from across the Ann Arbor campus, encompassing all seven Schools and Colleges that are engaged in the Biosciences. The Center’s leadership reflects this diversity of viewpoints and serves to facilitate scientific collaboration.

[Read more…] about The U-M Center for RNA Biomedicine Executive Committee thanks Aaron Frank for his contributions and welcomes Markos Koutmos

By Elisabeth Paymal, Center for RNA Biomedicine

As soon as COVID-19 information was released, RNA biologist and child neurologist Dr. Vivian Cheung looked at what was known about this new RNA virus.

“What I saw was amazingly surprising: the RNA of the virus encodes a familiar protein, the one that I’ve studied for years in a very rare neurodegenerative disease. Here it was, in the RNA of the COVID-19 virus!”

Left: RNA in the clover loop form. Drawing by Colleen McGarry

[Read more…] about From a rare neurologic disease to a potential antiviral medication against corona virus

by Dr. Kretzler and his team, and Elisabeth Paymal, U-M Center for RNA Biomedicine

The scientific response to the COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly evolving. Every day, scientists are making discoveries based on years of investment in training and expertise that resulted in the accumulation of large, shared, high quality data sets now ready to be used in the fight against the virus. Together, researchers have established lasting scientific collaborations and built robust state of the art research infrastructures that are now strongly positioned to tackle emergent questions related to the treatment and spread of disease during this COVID-19 pandemic.

As I spoke with U-M Center for RNA Biomedicine member  Matthias Kretzler, M.D., University of Michigan, Department of Nephrology/Internal Medicine and Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, he was launching a new research protocol. “We might be able to start collecting and generating data from COVID-19 infected kidney cells as soon as tomorrow, so we can help patients with kidney diseases and those with COVID-19 induced kidney damage. The sooner we can start, the sooner we can find answers.”

[Read more…] about Making patients resilient to COVID-19: Lessons to be learned from kidney single cell analysis

The U-M Center for RNA Biomedicine’s fourth annual symposium on March 29 will focus on foundational ribonucleic acid biosciences, from discovery to function.

Recent discoveries in biomedicine have revealed that RNA is critical to most aspects of human health and that its misregulation is responsible for many diseases.

As the messenger molecule that carries the DNA blueprint in human cells, it profoundly impacts all cellular processes, from stem cell differentiation to cancer.

The symposium is free and open to the public. It will feature keynote speakers from across the nation, including:

• Rachel Green of Johns Hopkins University, who will discuss high-resolution ribosome profiling revealing mechanisms of translation elongation regulation.

• Howard Chang of Stanford University, who will focus on genome regulation by long noncoding RNAs.

• Alice Telesnitsky, professor of microbiology and immunology at U-M, who will address HIV-1 RNA fate determination: the ends as a means.

• Kristen Lynch of the University of Pennsylvania, who will share her discoveries in CELF control of RNA processing in human T cells.

• David Bartel of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who will host his session on the influence of microRNAs on disease.

The Center for RNA Biomedicine brings U-M faculty together from across campus to pioneer RNA research, translate their discoveries into medical applications and improve human health. RNA biomedicine revelations provide an unprecedented opportunity to invest in advanced studies of RNA as a gateway to precision medicine.

As a Presidential Biosciences Initiative Scientific Research Initiative grantee, the center aims to enrich the university’s intellectual and training environment around RNA biomedicine, promote and develop cross-disciplinary collaborations, and enrich U-M’s intellectual and training environment around RNA biomedicine.

The all-day symposium begins at 8:30 a.m. in the A. Alfred Taubman Biomedical Research Science Building. It is open to U-M faculty, staff, students and anyone interested in the most recent discoveries regarding the many roles of RNA in health and disease.

More information:

• Center for RNA Biomedicine website

• Advance online registration for the symposium

Read Full Story Here