We are nearing the close of RNA Canada ARN 2024, and had a wonderful penultimate day!
The morning began with an outstanding plenary session chaired by Dr. Marc Belmonte entitled: “RNA: A new frontier for agriculture”. The session featured a number of fantastic talks discussing the promise of how RNA can be used for pest control, and was followed by an agriculture panel discussion entitled “The future applications of RNA technologies for agriculture and food security”, featuring Chris Manchur (Canola Council of Canada), Steve Whyard (University of Manitoba), Hailing Jin (UC Riverside), Steve Robinson (Agriculture Canada) and William Moar (Bayer Crop Science).
After the coffee break, the conference moved into the concurrent plenary sessions. One session was on RNA enzymes, aptamers, sensors, and bioengineering, and featured a number of exciting talks promoting novel use of aptamers and antisense oligos for applications ranging from detection, biosensors, protein recognition and translational inhibitors. Another session was on AI and computational biology, with talks highlighting computational tools for snoRNA detection, virtual screening, epitranscriptomics, sequencing and inferring splicing factor activity. The third session was on RNA, viruses, and manipulation of the hosts, with presentations covering a breadth of topics including viral internal ribosome entry sites, Zika virus, virus induced tRNA fragmentation, viral circular RNAs and the discovery of regulatory motifs in viral RNAs.
The lunch featured two exciting sessions. The first was a roundtable discussion about training and job opportunities in the new era of RNA biology, featuring Craig Kerr (Inceptive), Tien-Hao Chen (NEB), William Moar (Bayer Crop Science) and Catia Perciani (Moderna). Concurrently there was a panel entitled “Regulation and evaluation of RNA-based technologies“, moderated by Dan Edgcumbe (Roche Canada) and featuring panelists Mélanie Caron (Director, Direction of drug and technologies evaluation, Institut national d’excellence en santé et en services sociaux (INESSS)); Omar Tounekti (Manager Cell, Gene Therapies and Radiopharmaceuticals Division, Health Canada); Gregory Troiano (Head of cGMP Strategic Supply & Operations, Sanofi); and Leslie Madden (Sr Director, Regulatory Science, Moderna).
The afternoon featured three concurrent scientific sessions. The first, RNA modifications, highlighted exciting new discoveries relating to m6A modification, modifications in tRNAs as well as the importance of RNA modifications in RNA degradation, mitochondrial gene expression and intron retention. The second session was on mRNA translation and the ribosome, with presentations on ribosome homeostasis and mRNA translation during stress, the importance of RNA structure in decoding and start codon selection, and new methods for studying translational control. The third session on Regulatory RNAs featured talks about RNA regulatory based mechanisms in translation, RNA silencing and alternative polyadenylation along with novel regulatory roles for small RNAs, as well as presentations highlighting the promise of regulatory RNA based strategies in the treatment of acute myelogenous leukaemia and viral infection.
Day four concluded with the Gala dinner, hosted by Tasha Kheireddin and featuring inspirational addresses by Sherif Abou Elela (President of RNA Canada ARN), Pierre Cosette (President of the U. de Sherbrooke) and Derrick Rossi (Co-founder of Moderna). There were also the poster and flash talk prizes for trainees, and the evening concluded with a fantastic musical performance.
RNA Canada ARN 2024 is in the home stretch! More to come!