RNA Featured Researcher — Joshi Alumkal, Hematology-Oncology

Joshi J. Alumkal, M.D. Professor, Associate Division Chief for Basic Research, Hematology-Oncology Division; Section Head, Genitourinary Medical Oncology Section, Internal Medicine, Medical School Visit Lab Website View Michigan Research Experts Profile Follow on Twitter: @AlumkalJoshi Our lab is focused on transcriptional regulation and how that contributes to lethal prostate cancer progression. We use biochemical, genomic,…

RNA Faculty Spotlight – Alan Boyle, Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics, and Human Genetics

Alan Boyle Assistant Professor Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics Human Genetics Lab Website Twitter: @AP_Boyle Michigan Experts   What are your research interests? My research group uses computational and wet lab techniques to study how genes are controlled in human cells. We have a large focus on how human variation can change this control and how…

RNA Faculty Spotlight – Analisa DiFeo, Pathology and Ob/Gyn

  Analisa DiFeo, Ph.D.  Associate Professor Pathology and Ob/Gyn Michigan Medicine Twitter Faculty page DiFeo Lab LinkedIn Google Scholar Research Interests: Using a combination of in vitro and in vivo approaches, my lab hopes to better understand the mechanism by which both microRNA’s and the genes they regulate are involved in ovarian tumor biology at…

Scientists Come Together to Discuss RNA Science: The RNA Collaborative Seminar Series

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…

RNA Faculty Spotlight — Dan Peltier, Pediatric Hematology/Oncology

Daniel Peltier M.D., Ph.D. Clinical Lecturer Pediatric Hematology/Oncology Video profile My scientific and clinical interests include discovering ways to modulate the immune system to help ameliorate childhood disease, especially high-risk pediatric malignancies. Currently, I am working with Dr. Reddy investigating novel ways RNA molecules impact T cell biology and alloimmunity. One aspect of this work…

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miR-181a, a microRNA that regulates ovarian cancer cells

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…

Sarah Keane is a 2020 PEW Scholar

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…

RNA Faculty Spotlight – Sarah Keane, Biophysics and Chemistry

  Sarah Keane, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Biophysics, William R. Roush Assistant Professor of Chemistry Biophysics and Department of Chemistry College of LSA https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/keane-lab/ @KeaneLab The Keane’s lab is interested in understanding how RNA molecules fold and how their three-dimensional structures impact function. RNAs play a number of different regulatory roles in health and disease…

Our Members at The RNA Society 25th Annual Meeting

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…

RNA Collaborative Seminar Series

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…

U-M Center for RNA Biomedicine hosts the RNA Collaborative Seminar Series, May 6, 2020

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…

Two RNA Biomedicine experts are elected to the National Academy of Sciences

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, Manager of the Center for RNA Biomedicine, receives the University of Michigan Staff Impact Award from among 75 nominees

“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…

RNA Collaborative Seminars – University of Michigan Hosting

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 U-M Center for RNA Biomedicine Executive Committee thanks Aaron Frank for his contributions and welcomes Markos Koutmos

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.

From a rare neurologic disease to a potential antiviral medication against corona virus

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…

RNA Faculty Spotlight – Markos Koutmos, Biophysics and Chemistry

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…

Making patients resilient to COVID-19: Lessons to be learned from kidney single cell analysis

by Dr. Kretzler and his team, and Elisabeth Paymal, U-M Center for RNA Biomedicine The scientific response to the COVID-19 pandemic is rapidly evolving. Every day, scientists are making discoveries based on years of investment in training and expertise that resulted in the accumulation of large, shared, high quality data sets now ready to be…

Transposable elements play an important role in genetic expression and evolution

By Adam Diehl, Alan Boyle, and Elisabeth Paymal, Center for RNA Biomedicine Until recently, little was known about how transposable elements contribute to gene regulation. These are little pieces of DNA that can replicate themselves and spread out in the genome. Although they make up nearly half of the human genome, these were often ignored…