Greetings!
The organizers of the 20th annual meeting of the RNA Society invite you to attend this milestone event at the beautiful campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, from May 26 to May 31, 2015. The first RNA Society Meeting was held in Madison in 1996 and this will be our eighth meeting at UW-Madison. The campus has undergone extensive renovations since its last RNA meeting in 2009, and the 2015 meeting will take full advantage of the new and refurbished venues for talks, poster sessions and banquets. Unchanged are the scenic lakeside location, eclectic city, and reasonably priced accommodations. While certain airlines fly directly into Madison/Dane County airport (MSN), the campus is only a 2-hour drive from the Chicago airports, which provide low-cost domestic and international flights from almost any location. Rental cars and shuttles from the Chicago area are readily available.
More information on the city of Madison can be found here: http://www.visitmadison.com/
We have planned an exciting program that has something for everyone, regardless of career stage or specific field of study. The meeting begins Tuesday evening with a reception and buffet dinner, followed by keynote talks by three leading RNA scientists: Harry Noller, Elena Conti, and Narry Kim. Mornings and afternoons will be dedicated to a broad spectrum of sessions and workshops, listed below. We are also planning a special panel discussion on the history of RNA science, which will feature some of our most distinguished society members. Evening poster sessions will be held at the spacious new Gordon Dining and Event Center, which will comfortably fit all the posters and a beer hall, is right across the street from the dorms, and a short walk from downtown hotels.
Social events will include a junior scientist mixer, a mentor-mentee lunch, a Science and Society banquet with Jon Lorsch, Director of the US National Institute for General Medical Sciences as a guest speaker, and a picnic dinner and free evening to meet with colleagues and enjoy the campus and city. The meeting will close on Saturday evening with the awards presentation, banquet, and dance, with The Gomers providing music and live karaoke for brave conferees!
Chairs have been selected for the following tentative sessions and workshops.
Sessions (plenary or concurrent):
Ribosome assembly and function – Gloria Culver
RNA transport and localization – Samie Jaffrey
Ribozymes, riboswitches and RNA structure – Rob Batey
Pre-mRNA splicing – Charles Query
Alternative splicing – Jernej Ule
RNA processing/3’-end formation – Walter Keller
RNP biogenesis, structure, and function – Reinhard Lührmann
Interconnections between RNA processes – Melissa Moore
RNA modification and editing – Jane Jackman
mRNA turnover and translational control – Ambro Van Hoof
Non-coding RNAs – Howard Chang
Workshops (more may be organized, depending on interest):
RNA structure prediction – Tamar Schlick
CRISPR RNA-mediated genome editing – Erik Sontheimer
RNA and disease – Chonghui Cheng
RNA therapeutics – Brett Monia
La and related proteins – Rich Maraia
Careers in RNA science
Chairs will select speakers from abstracts submitted by conference attendees. Postdocs and senior graduate students are strongly encouraged to submit oral abstracts. A limited number of fellowships will be available to pay the conference registration fees of graduate students and postdocs who are presenting oral or poster abstracts.
We are looking forward to a stimulating, fun, and rewarding meeting. We hope you will attend!
The RNA 2015 organizers:
Dave Brow, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Matt Hentze, EMBL
Amy Pasquinelli, University of California-San Diego
Anna Pyle, Yale University