On the occasion of the National Postdoc Appreciation Week, September 21st–25th, the University of Michigan (U-M) Center for RNA Biomedicine’s community warmly thanks UM’s postdocs for their tremendous contributions to the field of RNA research and to the life of our scientific community. According to the U-M Postdoctoral Association (UMPDA), an estimated 1,400 to 1,600…
Dear Colleagues, While the COVID-19 pandemic has been causing major disruptions as well as many inconveniences, it also offers some new opportunities; perhaps now is the most opportune time to make new interpersonal connections, start new scientific collaborations, and broaden one’s horizons by learning from others. Through our activities below, we aim to support the…
Four Associate Professors and one Professor! The Board of Regents of May 21st, 2020, approved recommendations for new appointments and promotions for regular associate and full professor ranks of the University of Michigan. The following Center for RNA Biomedicine’s members were further appointed: Sami J. Barmada, associate professor of neurology, with tenure, Medical School…
A cross-disciplinary team of scientists from the University of Michigan (U-M) has developed a biochemical technique that successfully measures the number of individual protein molecules present in blood at low concentrations. These findings are published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), September 2020. The scientists developed special antibody probes that…
By Elisabeth Paymal A team of scientists associated with the University of Michigan Center for RNA Biomedicine discovered unexpected cellular adaptation mechanisms in response to dehydration. The observed protein reaction has never been reported before. The research began while observing processing bodies (P-Bodies), which are membrane-less organelles (MLO) involved in RNA degradation in human cells….
ANN ARBOR, MI, AUGUST 19, 2020—”A pair” of scientists from the University of Michigan (U-M) Center for RNA Biomedicine receives the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) Collaborative Pairs Pilot Project Awards. The U-M Center for RNA Biomedicine brought together two scientists for this highly competitive grant: principal investigator Stephanie Moon, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in Human Genetics,…
The Center for RNA Biomedicine is offering Grant Sprints. For more information, please contact Maria Stieve. Photo: Grant Sprint at the U-M Center for RNA Biomedicine, October 2019, clockwise from left to right, Elizabeth Tidwell, Markos Koutmos, Aaron Frank, Brandon Ruotolo, Varun Gadkari. Curiosity and passion lead scientists to their field of research, but a…
The U-M Center for RNA Biomedicine is looking for U-M Graduate Students and Postdocs to join its RNA Student & Postdoc Council for the 2022-23 academic year. The objective of the council is to work collaboratively across disciplines, build a scientific community, and generate ideas and activities that advance RNA research and education across the…
RNA is a leading-edge field of biomedical research that is quickly expanding at many public research and academic institutions in the US and Canada. The complexity of this research requires collaborations between scientists across disciplines and specialties, establishing communities of RNA scientists within each of these institutions. When the COVID pandemic required to postpone all…
by Elisabeth Paymal One of the hallmarks of ovarian cancer is genomic instability resulting in gain and loss of DNA throughout the entire genome, including many microRNAs (miRNA). Dr. DiFeo, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Pathology and of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Michigan Medicine, and her team, research which miRNAs are involved in the early stages…
Keane is U-M’s 15th scientist to receive this very prestigious award since its inauguration in 1985, and the first one since 2013. “For my lab what this award means is that we can take real chances and pursue these challenging projects that are really difficult in terms of methodology development and other technical challenges that…
May 27 2:00–4:00 pm, Concurrent Session 2, RNA Structure and Regulation Adrien Chauvier, Pujan Ajmera, Nils Walter, Competition between ligand binding and transcription factor NusA modulates riboswitch-mediated regulation of transcription 8:00–9:00 pm, Poster Session 2, Interconnected Processes Catherine Scull, The N-terminal region of the A12.2 subunit stimulates RNA polymerase I transcription elongation 9:00–10:00 pm, Poster Session 5, RNA…
The RNA Collaborative seminar series goal is to cross promote RNA research and strengthen and connect the RNA scientific community. More information is available on the RNA Collaborative Seminar Series webpage, supported by The RNA Society. We encourage RNA Centers across the world to join us. If your RNA Center is interested in joining this…
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…
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…
“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…
Wednesday, May 6, 2020, 4:00-5:00 Eastern Time Zoom link Hosted by the University of Michigan Center for RNA Biomedicine It’s not the gene, it’s the neighborhood: Effects of large scale chromosomal structure on bacterial transcription Peter Freddolino, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Biological Chemistry and Computational Medicine & Bioinformatics Member of the Center for RNA Biomedicine Executive…
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.
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…
Markos Koutmos, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Biophysics & Chemistry Markos Koutmos joined the Center’s Executive Committee in 2020. The Koutmos lab is interested in understanding how the 3D structure and dynamics of proteins and RNAs drive their biological function. His lab combines chemistry, biophysics and biology approaches to build a foundation of basic knowledge for…
