Together, with your support for RNA research, we can revolutionize medicine and help cure millions of people.
Recent scientific discoveries on RNA —the molecule of the cell that links all life processes— are leading a medical revolution.
The COVID-19 pandemic, of an amplitude never reached before by any infectious disease, is caused by an RNA virus, and fought by an RNA vaccine. The science and technique behind such a vaccine is proving its success and opens the door to many other applications.
The CRISPR Cas9 discovery in 2012, whose importance has been recognized by the 2020 Nobel Prize of Chemistry, is changing the way we can think about diseases and our humanity. These two major facts suffice to demonstrate the biomedical revolution the world is engaged in.
Cancer, Alzheimer’s, and viral infections devastate millions of people and their families since for many of these diseases there is no definitive cure or even adequate treatment. But RNA research is moving fast, and several RNA-based therapies are moving to clinical trials with amazing results. These first successes are also paving the way to cure many other diseases, changing the way we think about therapeutics.
Less than two decades ago, the Human Genome Project revealed that only less than 2% of the genome codes for proteins. We are now discovering that non-coding RNAs play central roles in many aspects of cellular physiology and human diseases. Understanding these functions has the potential to revolutionize medicine and will possibly eradicate all human diseases.
RNA biology is highly complex and requires studies from single bacterial cells at nanometer scales to complex interactions between the 60 trillion cells of the human body. RNA research needs scientists from biology to engineering, computational science to medicine to come together and create synergies to lay the foundations for the therapies of the future. This is at the heart of the Center’s mission, and we support and foster a community of over 150 faculty members, who, together, lay the foundations for the therapies of the future.
Support the RNA revolution
The Center is particularly seeking support to further engage the University of Michigan research and teaching community in RNA therapeutics, including CRISPR.
The University of Michigan (U-M) Center for RNA Biomedicine has an outstanding track record both in funding and in attracting, training and retaining leaders in RNA research.
In 2016, the U-M Center for RNA Biomedicine received initial seed funding from the U-M Taubman Institute under Dr. Eva Feldman’s leadership. Four years later, the Center was awarded a Tier 1 Grant from U-M President M. Schlissel under the Biosciences Initiative for $10M over five years.
This funding is dedicated in part to co-hire five faculty members. The Center also organizes an annual symposium, an RNA innovation seminar series, and interdisciplinary Grant Sprints. It regularly communicates with its members through an annual magazine and report, RNA Translated, a weekly newsletter and a twitter account.
With a donation to the Center for RNA Biomedicine, you can support and advance the RNA research and its scientific community. The center is actively seeking support for fellowships, events, and facility equipment.
U-M’s entire research expenditures are $1.62 billion, and about half of these are in the biosciences, with activity in medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, public health, nursing, engineering, kinesiology, biology, psychology, computer science, chemistry and physics.
The U-M is ranked the largest public research university in the US.
For decades, the U-M has successfully encouraged and fostered cross-disciplinary collaborations, an approach to doing research that is are required to innovate in biomedicine.
For more information, please contact Martina Jerant at mjerant@umich.edu.
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