2024 Annual New York RNA Symposium

CERRT Logo

The Larsen Lab in UAlbany’s Department of Biological Sciences has been exceptionally busy, both at the research bench and in support of a great cause.

 

On October 14-15, 2024, the Hotel Canandaigua in the Finger Lakes hosted the Annual New York RNA Symposium, welcoming over 300 attendees. This two-day event was organized by the Center of Excellence in RNA Research & Therapeutics (CERRT), in collaboration with the University of Rochester’s Center for RNA Biology and the University at Albany’s RNA Institute.

 

This year's symposium featured keynote presentations from Eckhard Jankowsky, PhD; Karla Neugebauer, PhD; Sally Temple, PhD; and Blanton Tolbert, PhD, as well as invited faculty talks by Kathleen McDonough, PhD, and Mitchell O’Connell, PhD. One of the program’s main events was the Diversity Panel discussion, featuring Jeanette Altarriba, PhD and Dean of UAlbany CAS; Kaye Thomas, PhD; and keynote speaker Blanton Tolbert, PhD.

 

The program also included thirteen selected presentations and 28 lightning talks by junior researchers and students, along with 79 submitted posters. During the event, the symposium announced the recipients of the 2024 Outstanding Research Talk Award and Poster Presentation Awards. Among the awardees for Outstanding Research Talk was Joey Tavarez, a doctoral student in Dr. Mindy Larsen’s lab. Before joining UAlbany’s MCDN Ph.D. program, Joey earned his B.S. in Biology from the University at Albany. His current research in the Larsen Lab focuses on the signaling changes that fibroblast cells undergo following salivary gland ductal ligation injury.

  

Prof Larsen and Joey Tavarez
Prof Larsen and Joey Tavarez

                     

Other New York RNA Symposium Award winners from the University at Albany:

 

RNA Society Membership Poster Award:

 

  • Victoria DeMeo (PI: Andrew Berglund): RNA structural dynamics of CAG expansion transcripts in spinocerebellar ataxias

  • Gabriela Valdivieso (PI: Dylan R. Farnsworth): A zebrafish model system for myotonic dystrophy     

       

Outstanding Research Poster Award:

 

  • Asmar Aliyeva (PI: Andrew Berglund): Alternative splicing mis-regulation is a transcriptomicfeature of patient derived model systems in CAG repeat expansion SCAs

  • Dadrian Cole (PI: Ken Halvorsen): Tuning the stability of DNA tetrahedra with base-stacking interactions 

  • Chukwudi (Humphrey) Omeoga (PI: Thomas Begley): The bacterial epitranscriptomic writer MnmA regulates gene expression in response to oxidative stress      

                                                            

 

The 2024 New York RNA Symposium was sponsored by the University at Albany, including the College of Arts & Sciences and the Departments of Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Biomedical Sciences, Nanoscale Science and Engineering, as well as The RNA Institute. Additional sponsors included Elegen, GenScript, Illumina, Krackeler Scientific, Lexogen, the National Science Foundation (NSF), New England Biolabs (NEB), NYS Empire State Development, Qiagen, VWR, The RNA Society, Rustbelt RNA 2024, and the University of Rochester's Center for RNA Biology, Department of Biochemistry & Biophysics, and the Dean of Graduate Education in Arts & Sciences.

 

Congratulations to all the speakers and poster presenters, and a “thank you” to the RNA community for their invaluable support. Please click on link for additional information on UAlbany’s RNA Institute: The RNA Institute | University at Albany.