RNA Featured Researcher — Aaron Slusher, Kinesiology

Aaron L. Slusher, PhD – Pubmed Research Postdoctoral Research Fellow Ludlow Integrative Molecular Genetics Laboratory School of Kinesiology   Who/what brought you to science? Science has always challenged me in the most meaningful way, and I have been fortunate to be associated with great mentors and colleagues to share the excitement for discovery. This has only…

RNA Featured Researcher — John Moldovan, Human Genetics

John Moldovan, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Research Fellow Moran Research Group Department of Human Genetics   Who/what brought you to science? I have always wanted to know how and why things work. I became seriously interested in science as a career after taking cell biology in college.   What are your research interests? I study human LINE-1…

RNA Featured Researcher — Mengyi Sun, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Mengyi Sun Graduate Student Research Assistant Graduate Student Instructor Zhang Lab Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Who/what brought you to science? I was attracted to scientific research after reading (with fun & effort) the ‘Feynman’s lectures on physics’.   What are your research interests? My research focuses on the field of evolutionary systems biology….

RNA Faculty Spotlight — Ryan Mills, Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics

Ryan Mills, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics Associate Professor of Human Genetics Our laboratory develops methods for analyzing RNA sequence data, with a focus on quantifying and assessing rates of translation using ribosome footprinting techniques. We are also actively studying novel mechanisms of translational regulation at the transcriptional level. Visit Lab Website…

RNA Faculty Spotlight — Jiaqi Shi, Pathology

Jiaqi Shi, M.D., Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Gastrointestinal and Hepatobiliary Pathology, Surgical Pathology Department of Pathology Our lab is interested in studying how epigenetic alterations in pancreatic cancer affect transcription and how this effect contributes to pancreatic cancer development. Visit Website View Michigan Research Experts Profile Follow on Twitter: @jiaqishi    What are your research interests?…

RNA Featured Researcher — Marissa Cloutier, Human Genetics

  Marissa Cloutier Ph.D. Candidate Kalantry Lab Department of Human Genetics   Who/what brought you to science? I got hooked on science while taking a developmental biology course at Albion College. The following semester I began doing research with the professor who taught the course and I have been involved in science ever since!   What…

RNA Faculty Spotlight — Sundeep Kalantry, Human Genetics

Sundeep Kalantry, Ph.D Associate Professor Associate Chair for Research Department of Human Genetics Our research aims to define how epigenetic regulation occurs in mammals. We use X-chromosome inactivation, which results in transcriptional silencing of most genes along one of the two X-chromosomes in female mammals, to gain insights into epigenetic processes, including through chromatin modifications…

RNA Faculty Spotlight — Anthony Antonellis, Human Genetics

    Anthony Antonellis, Ph.D James V. Neel Collegiate Professor of Human Genetics Chair, Department of Human Genetics Professor of Neurology, Medical School Our group is broadly interested in how human genetic variation affects gene and genome function. One area of research is grounded in the observation that mutations in aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases cause myriad disease…

RNA Featured Researcher — Ashley Kalinski, Cell & Developmental Biology

Ashley Kalinski, Ph.D. Research Fellow Giger Lab Cell and Developmental Biology In 2020, Ashley Kalinski was offered an Assistant Professor position at Ball State University. Who/what brought you to science? I remember being completely fascinated with neuroscience from a very young age. However, my real “science moment” didn’t happen for me until graduate school. One…

RNA Faculty Spotlight — Peter Todd, Neurology

Peter Todd, M.D., Ph.D Bucky and Patti Harris Professor of Neurology Our lab studies how nucleotide repeat expansions lead to neurological disease with an aim of developing novel treatments based on mechanistic insights. Specifically, we study how repeats as RNA bind to proteins and prevent them from performing their normal functions. We also study how…

RNA Faculty Spotlight — Jianzhi (George) Zhang, Ecology & Evolutionary Biology

Jianzhi (George) Zhang, Ph.D. Marshall W. Nirenberg Collegiate Professor Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology Our lab is interested in evolution of gene expression and expression noise, RNA modification, and translation regulation. Visit Lab Website   What are your research interests? My research area is molecular and genome evolution. I am particularly interested in the…

RNA Faculty Spotlight – Sally Camper, Human Genetics

  Sally Camper, Ph.D. Margery W. Shaw Distinguished University Professor Professor of Human Genetics Professor of Internal Medicines Our lab is interested in single cell RNA sequencing for understanding cell differentiation in health and disease. Visit Lab Website View Michigan Research Experts Profile Follow on Twitter: @sallycamper   What are your research interests? Regulation of…

RNA Faculty Spotlight – Shigeki Iwase, Human Genetics

  Shigeki Iwase, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Human Genetics Our group studies histone methylation-mediated mechanisms underlying mRNA production, i.e. transcription, in the brain. Given that many histone methyl regulators are mutated in cognitive disorders, our research may yield important insights into how histone methylation is involved in normal and pathological brain development and function. Visit…

2017-2018 RNA Seminars

2017-2018 RNA Innovation Seminar Series RNA Innovation Seminars (6/18/18) Melani Ohi, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology, Research Associate Professor, Life Sciences Institute Using Cryo-EM to study RNA based molecular machines Jacob Kitzman, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Human Genetics, Assistant Professor of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics Massively parallel measurement of mutations’ functional effects RNA Innovation Seminars|| Theme: RNA viruses/retroviruses (6/4/18)  Andrew Tai, M.D.,…

2018-2019 RNA Seminars

  4th annual Toronto RNA Enthusiasts Day (TREnD) 7/30/19 (flyer) Keynote speaker: Dr. Tracy Johnson (UCLA) SickKids Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning (686 Bay St, Toronto, Ontario) For more information visit: trendrna.com 2nd Conference on Biomotors, Virus Assembly and Nanobiotechnology 7/29/19  (flyer) Ohio State University, Cleveland OH For more information visit: rnanano.osu.edu/Guo/Biomotor2019/Biomotor2019.html ENCODE 2019: Research Applications and…

2016-2017 RNA Seminars

RNA Innovation Seminars (6/8/17): Palmer Commons, Fourth Floor Forum Hall –Max Wicha, MD “Regulation of breast cancer stem cells by non-coding RNA’s” (Abstract, Flyer)   5/18/17 RNA Seminar Grill and Dahl Thurs, May 18, 2017: Michigan League – Michigan Room (2nd Floor) –Sheri A. Grill “The long and short of human TPP1” and Jan Dahl “The anti-inflammatory drug mesalamine targets bacteria polyphosphate accumulation” (Grill Abstract, Dahl Abstract, Seminar Flyer) Thurs,…

2015-2016 RNA Seminars

June 30, 2016: Palmer Commons, Fourth Floor Forum Hall – Edgar Otto : “Microfluidic droplet generation technology (Drop-Seq) enables high-throughput single cell transcriptomics” and Peter Freddolino : “The logic of transcriptional regulation in bacteria: From molecules to cells” June 23, 2016: Palmer Commons, Fourth Floor Forum Hall – John Moran : “Studies of a Human Retrotransposon” and Eric Fearon: “Working toward improved mouse models of somatic tissue mosaicism and cancer development” June…

March 27, 2020 U-M Center for RNA Biomedicine 5th Annual Symposium

Initially scheduled for March 27, 2020, our 5th Annual Symposium “From RNA Biology to Medicine” is rescheduled for March 26, 2021 University of Michigan, Biomedical Research Science Building, 109 Zina Pitcher TOGETHER, WE SOLVE … Morning Welcome and Introduction, Mark Schlissel (President, University of Michigan) Afternoon Welcome and Introduction, Srijan Sen (Associate Vice President for…

RNA Symposium dives into foundational RNA bioscience (University Record)

March 25, 2019 By Annie Kadeli Biosciences Initiative Topic: Health & Medicine, Research The U-M Center for RNA Biomedicine’s fourth annual symposium on Friday 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…