Scientific Committee
The RNA 2026 Scientific Committee is composed of researchers from around the world. Scientific Committee members are tasked with abstract selection and crafting the scientific sessions of the meeting, in association with the organizing committee. Members of the Scientific Committee also have the opportunity to chair scientific sessions. This year’s meeting will feature “junior” and “senior” chairs for each session, who will provide a brief scientific overview, keep speakers on time, manage questions, and oversee the overall operation of each session. By having junior and senior chairs, we hope to provide an additional opportunity to develop mentor-mentee relationships in our community.
| Name | Affiliation | Website | Jr or Sr Char |
| Steve West | The Living Systems Institute, University of Exeter | https://experts.exeter.ac.uk/26222-steven-west/about | Sr Chair |
| Aldema Sas-Chen | Tel Aviv University | https://saschenlab.sites.tau.ac.il/research | |
| Brenda Bass | University of Utah | http://www.biochem.utah.edu/bass/ | Sr Chair |
| Chase Weidmann | Center for RNA Biomedicine, University of Michigan Medical School |
https://medschool.umich.edu/profile/7648/chase-weidmann | Jr Chair |
| Chien-Ling Lin | Institute of Molecular Biology, Academia Sinica | https://cllimbsinica.weebly.com/ | Sr Chair |
| Benoit Chabot | Université de Sherbrooke | https://www.usherbrooke.ca/recherche/fr/specialistes/details/benoit.chabot#publications/ | Sr Chair |
| Adam Norris | University of California, Riverside | thenorrislab.org | Jr Chair |
| Eric Van Nostrand | Baylor College of Medicine | https://www.evannostrandlab.com/ | Jr Chair |
| Markus Hafner | National Institutes of Health | https://www.niams.nih.gov/labs/hafner-lab | Sr Chair |
| Cornelia Kilchert | Justus-Liebig-University Giessen | https://www.uni-giessen.de/de/fbz/fb08/Inst/biochem/kilchert | Jr Chair |
| Štěpánka Vaňáčová | CEITEC, Masaryk University | https://www.ceitec.eu/rna-quality-control/rg55 | Sr Chair |
| Amy Cooke | Haverford College | https://www.haverford.edu/users/acooke1 | Jr Chair |
| Maria Hondele | Biozentrum, University of Basel | https://www.biozentrum.unibas.ch/research/research-groups/research-groups-a-z/overview/unit/research-group-maria-hondele | Jr Chair |
| Tetsuro Hirose | Osaka University | https://hirose-lab.com/ | Sr Chair |
| Jessica Willi | University of Lethbridge | https://www.willilab.com/ | Jr Chair |
| Rachel Green | Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, HHMI | https://greenlabjhmi.org/ | Sr Chair |
| Cassandra Hayne | University of Chicago | https://haynelab.com/ | Jr Chair |
| Sebastian Leidel | University of Bern | https://leidel.dcbp.unibe.ch/ | Sr Chair |
| Thomas Preiss (PhD) | Shine-Dalgarno Centre for RNA Innovation, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University, Acton (Canberra), Australia | https://researchportalplus.anu.edu.au/en/persons/thomas-preiss/ | Sr Chair |
| Vihandha (Vi) Wickramasinghe | Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, University of Melbourne | https://cello-tuba-hw5e.squarespace.com/our-team | Jr Chair |
| Samer Hussein | Universite Laval | https://www.crchudequebec.ulaval.ca/en/researcher/samer-hussein/ | Sr Chair |
| Florian Erhard | University of Regensburg, Germany | https://erhard-lab.de | Jr Chair |
| Ramana Davuluri | Stony Brook University | https://davulurilab.github.io/ | Sr Chair |
| Franka Voigt | University of Zurich | https://voigtlab.org/ | Jr Chair |
| Markus Landthaler | Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine | https://www.mdc-berlin.de/landthaler | Sr Chair |
| Stephanie Moon | Center for RNA Biomedicine, University of Michigan | https://themoonlab.org/ | Jr Chair |
| Michelle Hastings | Center for RNA Biomedicine, University of Michigan Medical School | https://hastings.lab.medicine.umich.edu/ | Sr Chair |
| Amanda Hargrove | Centre for Medicinal Chemistry, University of Toronto | https://www.hargrovelab.org/ | Sr |