Blog Post

We would like to invite you and your lab members to our annual Toronto RNA Enthusiasts Day (TREnD), which will take place on July 10th and 11th, 2025 in partnership with RNA Canada ARN. On Thursday July 10th, we will hold a virtual day of talks from 1-4pm ET to showcase research from trainees in RNA Salons across Canada, including (AARTI, Vancouver RNA Salon, Montreal RNA Salon, and RiboClub). On Friday July 11th (9am-7pm ET), we invite you to join us in person at the SickKids Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning (686 Bay St, Toronto, Ontario) for an action-packed day of trainee talks selected from abstracts, poster presentations, a mentorship lunch, and an RNA-based Disease Advocacy Panel sponsored by RNA Canada ARN. Our keynote speaker this year is Professor Gene Yeo (University of California San Diego), who is an innovator in RNA based technologies to understand the functions of RNA binding proteins, an entrepreneur, and a talented mentor. All live talks will be available online for those joining us virtually!

The oral presentation deadline is Friday May 30th. Registration is open overall until June 27th for posters. Please encourage all of your lab’s RNA Enthusiasts to register and submit an abstract for an oral presentation. It’s a great opportunity for students and postdocs to practice presenting their work and receive feedback–at a low effort, low cost international conference! There are also multiple prizes for the best talks and posters.

This event is held in partnership with RNA Canada ARN, and we encourage all attendees to become members of RNA Canada ARN to receive a discounted registration fee! We hope that you would support your trainees’ attendance at the meeting by providing them with some lab funds for the registration cost, and we encourage YOU to register as well and support our regional RNA community! It means the world to our trainees to receive feedback from experts in the field, so please come and encourage and inspire our next generation of RNA biologists! 

The website is: https://trendrna.ca/, registration link here.

Finally, as in previous years, we have an “RNArt” art contest. RNArt is an RNA biology-focused art contest open to all registrants. Eligible entries range from immunofluorescence microscopy to artistic interpretations of data. The winning piece comes with a monetary prize. 

Please spread the word about our event to your friends and colleagues! The more RNA Enthusiasts, the better!

We hope to see you there!

John Calarco

Julie Claycomb

Haissi Cui

Amanda Hargrove

Philipp Maass

TREnD co-mentors