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7th Annual RNA Symposium, “From Molecules to Medicines” Friday, March 24, 2023, 8:30 am – 4:00 pm A. Alfred Taubman Biomedical Science Research Bldg, Kahn Auditorium 109 Zina Pitcher Pl, Ann Arbor, Michigan MiSciWriters Blog          

2022 Monday, September 12, 4:00 pm, Zhipeng Lu, USC – Link to Recording Monday, September 26, 4:00 pm, David Shechner, University of Washington  Monday, October 10, 4:00 pm, Polly Hsu, Michigan State University – Link to Recording Monday, October 17, 4:00 pm, John Cooke, Houston Methodist – Link to Recording Monday, November 21, 4:00 pm,…

Milan Samanta Posdoctoral Fellow, Kalantry lab Department of Human Genetics Google Scholar Who/what brought you to science? Early on in my education, I was not very interested in science. This changed when I met my favorite professor, Dr. Rajesh Ali, while studying microbiology during my bachelor’s degree. Dr. Ali’s mentorship inspired me to peruse research…

Renke Tan Ph.D. Student, advisor: Yan Zhang Department of Biological Chemistry Google Scholar LinkedIn Twitter Who/what brought you to science? Central dogma! I was obsessed by the central dogma in high school textbook and became interest in biological science. What are your research interests? I’m interested in developing new CRISPR based tools to enable previously…

Guoming Gao Biophysics Graduate Program, advisor: Nils G. Walter Google Scholar LinkedIn Twitter Who/what brought you to science? The Encyclopedia of Human Body, my favorite book when I was a kid. It showed me a fascinating world of cell biology where different human cells cooperate to achieve and maintain body functions.. What are your research…

Nico Gomez MSTP Fellow, Cellular and Molecular Biology Sami Barmada Lab Who/what brought you to science? I’ve been fascinated with nature for as long as I can remember. My curiosity for biological systems eventually turned inwards towards those that governed my behavior, thoughts, and emotions. My exposure to the medical field, in turn, reshaped these…

Samantha Grudzien Graduate Student Researcher U-M Neuroscience Graduate Program, Peter Todd Lab   Who/what brought you to science? Although not scientists, my mother has been in the medical field for over 30 years and my father has been a computer programmer. From their influence, I had an interest in STEM, and as I continued my…

We are thrilled to announce that Rachel Niederer as agreed to join us as a faculty member in Biological Chemistry, the Center for RNA Biomedicine, and the LSI. About Dr. Rachel Niederer: Dr. Niederer completed her undergraduate degree at the University of Maryland, College Park in Biochemistry and Cell Biology/Molecular Genetics where she worked with Dr….

  Yaping Liu, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Research Fellow Program in Biophysics, Sarah Keane Lab   Who/what brings you to science? A curiosity to know how to use various imaging techniques to observe biological macromolecules in three dimensions to understand their structure, function, and interactions. What are your research interests? Understanding the molecular basis of noncoding RNA…

Michael McMillan Ph.D. candidate Cellular and Molecular Biology Mentor: Dr. Sami Barmada Who/what brought you to science? I became interested in science during jr. high and high school after having three great teachers that promoted experimentation and thinking critically about science. I really enjoyed learning the intricacies of nature so I went on to study…

Geoffrey H. Siwo, Ph.D. Research Assistant Professor, Internal Medicine Research Associate, Center for Global Health Equity Website: siworesearch.com Twitter:  @gsiwo   What are your research interests?  My research interests are in accelerating biomedical discoveries and advances in clinical medicine by combining fundamental biology with a broad range of exponentially growing technologies such as artificial intelligence…

We are thrilled to announce that Jay Brito Querido as agreed to join us as a faculty member in Biological Chemistry, the Center for RNA Biomedicine, and the LSI. About Dr. Brito Querido: A native of Cape Verde, Dr. Querido received undergraduate and M.S. degrees at the University of Lisbon. For his Ph.D., Dr. Querido worked…

By Justin P. Hicks | jhicks3@mlive.com Vaccines to protect against severe illness and death from COVID-19 started as the key to a return to normal, but they could wind up unlocking much more for the future of health care. The mRNA vaccine technology used by Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna for their respective coronavirus vaccines has been heavily…

  Monika Franco Ph.D. Candidate Program in Chemical Biology Koutmou Lab     What are your research interests? My thesis work is centered around investigating mRNA modifications and how they impact protein translation. Who/what brought you to science? People. People brought me to science. My friends, my family, my professors. It was the idea that…

Renowned U-M researcher is recognized by Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences for pioneering prostate cancer discovery ANN ARBOR, Michigan — Arul M. Chinnaiyan, M.D., Ph.D., S.P. Hicks Professor of Pathology and Urology at Michigan Medicine, was awarded the 2022 Sjöberg Prize by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, which also awards Nobel Prizes. Chinnaiyan is…

  Rajesh Rao, M.D. Leonard G Miller Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Associate Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Associate Professor of Pathology Associate Professor of Human Genetics Medical School Website Dr. Rao is interested in the mechanisms that control the normal development of stem cells into retinal cells, and how they are involved…

  Bambarendage Pinithi (Pini) Perera Research Assistant Professor Environmental Health Sciences School of Public Health Lab website My primary research interests are in the field of environmental epigenetics, which seeks to identify molecular mechanisms and changes in epigenetic cues that result from environmental exposures at critical times in life, and links of these phenomena to…

The scientific journey of Bambarendage (Pini) Perera, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health Diet, exercise, or environmental exposures have an impact on how our genes are activated or silenced. These factors do not permanently affect our DNA, but they can interfere with our gene expression by acting upon RNA…

While most efforts involving CRISPR are focused on genome editing, the CRISPR machinery could also be used as a molecular weapon to slice up chromosomes of cancer cells. Research has shown that chromosomes may undergo a “catastrophic” event early in the process of carcinogenesis causing multiple breakages. While many cells die in such events, some…