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…

RNA Innovation Seminar Series

The Center offers bi-weekly RNA Innovation Seminars that feature visiting professors, U of M faculty, and students. The seminars cover a broad array of topics about RNA research and its application. In addition to learning about the latest research in the field, it is an opportunity to meet colleagues, network, and foster collaborations. Become a…

Welcome Stephanie Moon, Ph.D.

Dr. Stephanie Moon is Assistant Professor in the Department of Human Genetics at the University of Michigan (U-M) Medical School, and a faculty scholar at the U-M Center for RNA Biomedicine. She joined our RNA community in January 2020, and is the first RNA BSI faculty hire. Dr. Moon brings to Michigan an extensive experience…

Seeing is believing: The cutting edge of watching single molecules inside human cells

Seeing is believing: The cutting edge of watching single molecules inside human cells

The cell is a complex network of interacting components, or molecules, each of them with its own characteristics and all of them together functioning as a living system. Each of the molecular processes and interactions in the cell bears the risk of becoming dysfunctional, resulting in disease. Biomedical research into processes that power the cell…

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Publication in Nature Neuroscience: Disease-causing Repeats Help Human Neurons Function

Over half of our genomes are made of repeating elements within DNA. In rare cases, these repeats can become unstable and grow in size. These repeat “expansions” cause neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS and Dementia as well as learning disorders and autism in Fragile X syndrome. Research to date has focused on how these expanded…

RNA Faculty Spotlight – Amanda Garner, Medicinal Chemistry

Amanda Garner, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Medicinal Chemistry The Garner Laboratory is developing novel high-throughput screening assays for the discovery of chemical probes for targeting microRNAs and microRNA-microRNA-binding protein interactions. In addition, we are engaged in the discovery of new microRNA-binding proteins using chemical biology and proteomic approaches. Visit Lab Website Follow on Twitter:…