The RNA Transcript, October 4, 2021
TODAY, Monday, October 4, 4:00 pm ET, hybrid Zoom and Forum Hall, Palmer Commons | University of Michigan Center for RNA Biomedicine, RNA Innovation Seminar Series

“Fluorescent nucleoside analogues with new properties”
Byron Purse, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Organic Chemistry, San Diego State University

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 is free and open to all University of Michigan affiliates (faculty, students, post-docs, lab technicians and staff) whose work involves RNA science.

Benefits of this free membership include:
For faculty members:

For all members:

The 2022 RNA Society call for nominations
for research and service awards! 

Applications are now being accepted for the 2022 RNA Society awards celebrating excellence in RNA research and service in various career categories.

  • The RNA Society / Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press Award for Research Excellence by an Underrepresented Scientist (new for 2022). Information here
  • The Eclipse Award for Innovation in High Throughput Biology (new for 2022). Information here
  • The RNA Society Outstanding Career Researcher Award (new for 2022). Information here
  • The RNA Society / Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press Distinguished Research Mentor Award (new for 2022). Information here
  • The RNA Society Award for Excellence in Inclusive Leadership (new for 2022). Information here
  • The RNA Society / Scaringe Young Scientist Award. Information here.
  • The RNA Society Early-Career Award and Mid-Career Award. Information here
  • The Elisa Izaurralde Award for Innovation in Research, Teaching, and Service honors the memory of Elisa Izaurralde. Information here

Information on all awards can be found here.
 Applications are now being accepted in each award category.
Deadline for all applications is October 17, 2021.
Tuesday, October 5, 3:00–4:00 pm ET | University of Michigan, Human Genetics Seminar Series

"Genetics through the Lens of an Ophthalmologist and Vision Scientist"
Rajesh Rao, Ph.D., Leonard G. Miller Professor of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Leslie H. and Abigail S. Wexner Emerging Scholar at the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute, Assistant Professor, Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Assistant Professor, Pathology
Wednesday, October 6, 9:00 am ET | RNA Collaborative Seminar Series, hosted by RNA Biology Center, Cancer Science Institute Syngapore, National University of Singapore

“Crosstalk between RNA Editing and RNA Splicing”

"Widespread 3’UTR Splicing Promotes Oncogene Expression and Tumorigenesis"

Thursday, October 7, 2:30–5:30 pm ET | The Warren Alpert Foundation and Harvard Medical School, 2021 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize Virtual Symposium

"Getting the Message: How Elucidation of Messenger RNA Formation Empowered RNA Therapeutics"
Symposium in honor of Lynne Maquat, Ph.D., and Joan Steitz, Ph.D., for the discovery of fundamental pathways and mechanisms that ensure accurate RNA splicing and quality control of gene expression involving RNA.
Friday, October 8, 12:00 pm ET | ELSI Friday Forum

"Genomic Data Sharing: Putting Principles and Policy into Practice"
Panelist: Heidi Rehm, Ph.D., Massachusetts General Hospital
Panelist: Keolu Fox, PhD., UC San Diego
Moderator: Malia Fullerton, Ph.D., University of Washington
Thursday, October 14, 12:00–3:00 pm, Zoom | University of Michigan, Protein Folding Diseases Initiative
REGISTRATION BY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 8 (Zoom link will be emailed to all who register on Monday, October 11)

"8th Annual Protein Folding Diseases Initiative Symposium"
 
Keynote speaker: Martin Kampmann, Ph.D., Associate Professor, UCSF, Investigator, Chan Zuckerberg Biohub, Paul G. Allen Distinguished Investigator, University of California, San Francisco. 

Talks by Yang Zhang, Ph.D., Professor of Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics and Professor of Biochemistry, University of Michigan and Shyamal Mosalaganti, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in LSI, Cell and Developmental Biology and Biological Chemistry, University of Michigan. 

Presentations will also be given by three Young Investigators.
 
Questions: Contact Catherine A. Niemiec, cniemiec@umich.edu
 
For press releases and blog articles about your upcoming top journal publications, please
contact Elisabeth Paymal.

Our members' publications are available through Altmetric. Five queries are currently available: "RNA," "microRNA," "Transcriptome," "Translation," and "Molecule." Please make sure to have at least one of these key words in your title or abstract. Below are recent highlights.
Long Noncoding RNAs in Plants, Wierzbicki A T, Blevins T, Świeżewski S, Annual Review of Plant Biology, Vol. 72:245-271 (Volume publication date June 2021)

Abstract: Plants have an extraordinary diversity of transcription machineries, including five nuclear DNA-dependent RNA polymerases. Four of these enzymes are dedicated to the production of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), which are ribonucleic acids with functions independent of their protein-coding potential. lncRNAs display a broad range of lengths and structures, but they are distinct from the small RNA guides of RNA interference (RNAi) pathways. lncRNAs frequently serve as structural, catalytic, or regulatory molecules for gene expression. They can affect all elements of genes, including promoters, untranslated regions, exons, introns, and terminators, controlling gene expression at various levels, including modifying chromatin accessibility, transcription, splicing, and translation. Certain lncRNAs protect genome integrity, while others respond to environmental cues like temperature, drought, nutrients, and pathogens. In this review, we explain the challenge of defining lncRNAs, introduce the machineries responsible for their production, and organize this knowledge by viewing the functions of lncRNAs throughout the structure of a typical plant gene.
Acetylcholine-gated current translates wake neuronal firing rate information into a spike timing-based code in Non-REM sleep, stabilizing neural network dynamics during memory consolidation, Quinton M. Skilling, Bolaji Eniwaye, Brittany C. Clawson, James Shaver, Nicolette Ognjanovski, Sara J. Aton, Michal Zochowski, PLOS Computational Biology, Published: September 20, 2021, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009424

Abstract: Sleep is critical for memory consolidation, although the exact mechanisms mediating this process are unknown. ... Our model and experimental data both suggest that this effect is amplified in neural circuits following learning. Together our data suggest that sleep may bias neural networks from firing rate-based towards phase-based information encoding to consolidate memories.
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