RNA 2019
THE 24TH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE RNA SOCIETY WAS HELD IN KRAKÓW, POLAND, FROM JUNE 11 TO JUNE 16, 2019, AT THE ICE KRAKÓW CONGRESS CENTRE
In June, The RNA Society organised its 24th Annual International Conference encompassing the most exciting areas in RNA research. The RNA 2019 Meeting took place in the beautiful and historical city of Kraków (also Cracow), from June 11 to June 16, 2019.
Kraków, the former capital of Poland, is one of the most important political, cultural, and economic centres of Central Europe. It is a charming city with many beautiful medieval, renaissance, baroque, and art nouveau buildings and districts. It is also home to many impressive museums and galleries, as well as the oldest Polish university, the Jagiellonian University (founded in 1364). Kraków is a very popular tourist destination, easy to reach by direct air connections from major European cities. More information on the city of Kraków can be found at http://www.krakow.pl/english
The RNA2019 Meeting was held in the modern ICE Congress Centre, located on the banks of the Vistula River, across the Royal Castle, one of the landmarks of Kraków. The Centre offers spacious lecture theatres to accommodate scientific sessions and workshops, and also spaces for poster sessions and social mixers. Many hotels are available, most within walking distance from the Congress Centre and at affordable prices to enable everybody to participate.
The organisers prepared a programme intended to appeal to everyone, regardless of their career stage or specific field of study.
The programme included three keynote lectures delivered by:
Maria Carmo-Fonseca (Institute of Molecular Medicine, Lisbon, Portugal)
Tom Cech (University of Colorado, Boulder, USA)
Phil Sharp (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, USA)
The session topics and corresponding chairs were:
- Splicing: Magda Konarska & Woan-Yuh Tarn
- Translation: Andrea Berman & Nahum Sonenberg
- RNA Modification & Editing: Chuan He
- Regulatory RNAs (coding & non-coding) and RNPs: Julia Salzman & Yuki Tomari
- Synthesis and Processing of RNA: Karla Neugebauer
- Interconnected RNA Processes: Andrzej Dziembowski
- RNA localisation & transport: Jeff Chao
- RNA turnover: Oliver Muehlemann
- RNA in disease & therapy: Matt Disney
- RNA catalysis, folding & structure: Rick Russell
- New research trends and technologies: Jernej Ule
The Mid- and Early-Career Award and the Scaringe Award talks were incorporated into relevant sessions.
Poster Sessions: The presenters had the opportunity to display their posters during the entire meeting to provide ample opportunities to engage their peers and win prizes for the best posters in different categories.
Workshops: There were several workshops to expand the breadth of the scientific program. For example, workshops on RNA granules and liquid-liquid phase separation as well as computational analyses of RNA and RNPs (computational structural biology and analyses of high-throughput sequencing data).
Podium Panel Discussion “RNA Research and RNA Therapeutics: Past Insights and Future Prospects”: Moderated by Tom Cech. The participants included Joan Steitz, Anastasia Khvorova, Anna Marie Pyle, Matt Disney, and Gideon Dreyfuss.
Cultural events: The organisers wanted to make this meeting very memorable by combining it also with different cultural events (a recital of Chopin’s music by one of the best Polish pianists, a performance by a highlanders’ group from the Tatra mountains at the Gala Dinner, and more).
The meeting started with a keynote lecture by Phil Sharp at 06:00 pm, followed by an opening reception and a concert on Tuesday, June 11, and ended with the award ceremony and gala dinner/dance on the evening of Saturday, June 15.
Further details of the programme are provided on the conference website.
We were happy to have had you at RNA 2019.
On behalf of the organisers,
Brenda Bass, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA
Elena Conti, Max-Planck Institute of Biochemistry, Martinsried, Germany
Witold Filipowicz, Friedrich Miescher Institute, Basel, Switzerland (lead organiser)
Tetsuro Hirose, University of Hokkaido, Sapporo, Japan
Artur Jarmolowski, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland (local organiser)
Gene Yeo, University of California, San Diego, USA