Week 13 (4/14-4/16/21) – We attended the 2021 RNA Biology Symposium organized by the National Cancer Institute. This Symposium spanned 3 days with a range of topics including small and noncoding RNAs, translation and RNA modification. A major theme of the Symposium was phase transition, which we discussed in detail in February for our Journal Club on phase transition mediated by the SAR-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein. Of the many informative presentations at the NCI Symposium we had several favorites. One favorite presentation was “Genome Regulation by long-noncoding RNAs” by Dr. Howard Chang. Dr. Chang described the in-depth work his group has performed on the XIST lncRNA and embryonic and somatic X-inactivation, some of which has been published. Another amazing presentation was “RNA in Genomic Medicine, diagnosing rare disease and COVID-19 implications” by Dr. Diana Baralle. Dr. Baralle’s recent publication on differential expression of ACE2 isoforms during viral infection provides insight into her presentation for those unable to attend.
Upcoming (4/23/21) – Edward Mabry (M.S. student) will lead our discussion on long-range structure mapping of Dengue and Zika viruses published in 2019 and led by the Wan lab.