An initiative to make the University of Michigan a world leader in RNA therapeutics, spearheaded by the Center for RNA Biomedicine and the Biointerfaces Institute Fueled by the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine success and the recent Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery and elucidation of the bacterial CRISPR systems that can be harnessed for…
Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) constitute the new frontier of investigation for molecular biologists. However, lncRNA is inconsistently defined, which fails the research community in several ways. In a scientific review [2], Professor Andrzej Wierzbicki from the University of Michigan, Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, and collaborators challenge the contemporary ways of understanding lncRNAs…
Our inaugural issue of RNA Translated, the Center for RNA Biomedicine’s annual magazine and report, was published while COVID-19 pandemic was raging. 10 U-M scientists explained their research on viruses and how their findings could apply to treat or prevent COVID-19. The magazine also highlights two core facilities of the center, the Bru-seq Lab and…
In 2021, the first mRNA vaccines against COVID-19 received FDA approval. Based on decades of RNA research, these vaccines are only the beginning of the RNA therapeutic research breakthroughs. Our 2021 issue of RNA Translated presents 18 interviews with U-M scientists and scholars whose research contributes to RNA therapeutics. The magazine particularly focuses on three…
 Introducing Chase Weidmann, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in the Department of Biological Chemistry and RNA Scholar Faculty of the Center for RNA Biomedicine.
Chase Weidmann had three goals for a career: do something “cool,” improve the lives of other people, and, of course, be able to support himself. Weidmann found the “cool” in high school science classes and he quickly realized that biology and `biotechnology offer vast uncharted territories to explore. One such uncharted area was the academic…
When you join the University of Michigan Center for RNA Biomedicine, you join an RNA research community of over 150 faculty and their labs, across seven Schools and Colleges. This is a great opportunity to network, learn about each other’s expertise and research, and collaborate on innovative grant proposals. Membership in the Center for RNA Biomedicine…
Chase Weidmann, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Biological Chemistry, Medical School RNA Faculty Scholar Department Website Google Scholar We are interested in how cellular signals are propagated through interaction networks at the RNA-protein interface, and how these networks malfunction during cancer and disease. In cancer cells, changes in RNA-binding protein stoichiometry and modification status reorganize the…
6th Annual RNA Symposium, “Towards our Future of RNA Therapeutics” Friday, March 25, 2022, 8:30am – 4:00pm A. Alfred Taubman Biomedical Science Research Bldg, Kahn Auditorium 109 Zina Pitcher Pl, Ann Arbor, Michigan Thank you to our sponsors:    Â
Photo: Adrien Chauvier, Ph.D., in the Nils Walter’s lab (Credit: Laura Penabad-Peña) Dr. Adrien Chauvier’s journey has taken him around the world, from the Amazon rainforest to Michigan snowy winters, and his passion for science has never left him. He is now a postdoctoral fellow in Nils Walter’s lab, in the Department of Chemistry…
Adrien Chauvier, Ph.D. Postdoctoral Fellow Walter Lab Chemistry, LSA Your research interests in less than 100 words I aim to understand how RNA modulates gene expression using riboswitches as a model system. Riboswitches are structural elements that regulate transcription or translation through structural conformational change triggered by the binding of a specific ligand….
While some students may think it’s a good idea to pull an all-nighter before an exam, conventional wisdom may be correct: a good night’s sleep may actually be more helpful, according to University of Michigan research. U-M scientists Sara Aton and James Delorme found when mice are sleep deprived, there is an increase in activity…
by Elisabeth Paymal Often overlooked because they might not alter the amino acid production, splicing defects can play an important role in rare genetic pituitary gland diseases. Several clinical endocrinologists and bioinformaticians, led by Sally Camper and Jacob Kitzman, Professors of Human Genetics at the University of Michigan Medical School (UMMS), came together to further…
For most organisms, DNA sequences are available, but the complete RNA sequences are not. Here, we call for technologies to sequence full-length RNAs with all their modifications. Article co-authored by Dr. Vivian Cheung, member of our Center. Publication: Alfonzo, J.D., Brown, J.A., Byers, P.H. et al. A call for direct sequencing of full-length RNAs to identify all…
Sometimes it takes exploration outside our usual interests to find our true passion. This is what happened to Sydney Rosenblum, now a graduate student in Rackham Graduate School Program in Chemical Biology, in Professor Amanda Garner’s lab. In high school, Sydney felt that “science was not for her,” somewhat irrelevant or too abstract, until she…
by Elisabeth Paymal In an article published in the journal RNA [1] , Karan Bedi, a bioinformatician in Mats Ljungman’s lab, Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Michigan Medical School, investigated the efficiency of splicing across different human cell types. The results were surprising in that the splicing process appears to be quite…
Read about our 2020-21 Seminar season here. Monday, June 14, 4:00 pm, Yousuf Khan, Stanford and Mike McMillan, University of Michigan – Link to recording Monday, May 17, 4:00 pm, Thomas Martinez, Salk Institute for Biological Studies Monday, May 3, 4:00 pm, Olivia Rissland, University of Colorado, Medical School Monday, April 19, 4:00 pm, Jailson…
As we are hosting our last seminar of the academic year with the RNA Collaborative Seminar Series this Wednesday, June 30th, we want to give special thanks to the infallible support we have received from LSA Technology Services. Like all of us, we were quite baffled by the pandemic social distancing and the necessity to…
As we end the 2020–21 academic year, we’re still pondering the impact of RNA research on the pandemic that is changing the world we live in. As RNA scientists, we applaud the mRNA vaccine development and how scientists pivoted their research to contribute to SARS-CoV-2 and COVID-19 research. These extraordinary scientific achievements and the pandemic…
Jun Hee Lee, Ph.D. Associate Professor Molecular & Integrative Physiology Medical School Lee Lab Scientific interest video We study the relationship between stress, aging and metabolism, focusing on the following projects: (1) Stress-inducible Sestrins and their role in age- and obesity-associated metabolic pathologies, (2) Biochemical mechanisms underlying physiological functions of Sestrins, (3) Pathogenetic mechanisms of…
