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National workshop on non-coding RNA

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07-10-2015: Danish national workshop on non-coding RNA.  Keynote Speakers: Ronald Breaker, Yale University Speakers also include: Morten Sommer, Torben Heick Jensen and Anders Lund. Location: University of Copenhagen, The Ceremonial Hall, Frue Plads 4, 1168 Copenhagen.

Due to the adverse weather conditions in the US, Bruce Sullenger, unfortunately, has had to cancel his participation. Please see below the updated programme.

Programme:

9:30-10:00 Registration and Coffee
10:00-10:05 Welcome
Carsten Hjort, Novozymes / Jan Gorodkin, University of Copenhagen
10:05-10:30 Introduction to non-coding RNAs
Jørgen Kjems, Aarhus University
10:30-10:55 RNA bioinformatics: an overview
Jan Gorodkin, University of Copenhagen
10:55-11:50 KEYNOTE: Prospects for Ribozyme and Riboswitch Discovery
Ron Breaker, Yale University
11:50-13:00 Lunch and coffee Break
13:00-13:25 Utilizing biochemical properties of long non-coding RNAs to hunt for function
Torben Heick Jensen, Aarhus University
13:25-13:50 Deciphering mechanisms of non-coding RNAs
Anders Lund, University of Copenhagen
13:50-14:35 Industrial applications of RNA synthetic biology
Morten Sommer, The Technical University of Denmark
14:35-14:40 Closing Remarks
Carsten Hjort, Novozymes / Jan Gorodkin, University of Copenhagen

Registration is now closed. 

Prospects for Ribozyme and Riboswitch Discovery
Ron Breaker, Yale University.

Modern cells likely descended from ancient RNA World organisms that employed a great diversity of noncoding RNAs, and therefore many types of catalytic and ligand-sensing RNAs might still await discovery. Indeed, ongoing bioinformatics analyses are revealing the existence of many novel ribozyme and riboswitch candidates, and some of these still await further biochemical and biological validation studies. Recently we have discovered several classes of self-cleaving ribozymes and ligand-binding riboswitches that broaden the known functional and structural diversity of bacterial noncoding RNAs. In rare instances, unusually large and highly-conserved noncoding RNAs are identified. We speculate that some of these large noncoding RNAs are ribozymes that have novel biochemical functions. In this presentation, I will summarize some of the most recent ribozyme and riboswitch discoveries, and highlight the prospects for future noncoding RNA discoveries in bacteria.

Utilizing biochemical properties of long non-coding RNAs to hunt for function
Torben Heick Jensen, Centre for mRNP Biogenesis and Metabolism, Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Aarhus, Denmark.

Eukaryotic genomes are pervasively transcribed, yielding complex transcriptomes with high variability in composition and cellular abundance. Resulting transcript classes are often confusing as present classification is based on technical rather than biochemical criteria. With an emphasis on short-lived RNAs, my laboratory characterizes pathways for their turnover and describe DNA/RNA features as well as protein factors dictating RNP (in)stability. These efforts have shown that most human transcription initiates divergently. Moreover, a systematic categorization of all capped HeLa cell RNA, by its sensitivity to the ribonucleolytic RNA exosome and by the nature of its transcription initiation, is surprisingly effective at correctly classifying annotated transcripts, including long non-coding (lnc) RNAs of known function. The approach also identifies uncharacterized stable lncRNAs, hidden among a vast majority of unstable transcripts. The predictive power of the approach promises to streamline the functional analysis of known and novel RNAs in diverse cell types.

Deciphering mechanisms of non-coding RNAs
Anders Lund, BRIC, University of Copenhagen.

The aim of our work is to unveil fundamental biological mechanisms and understand how these become perturbed during diseases, with the ambition that our findings may contribute to the development of clinical tools. We focus on various classes of non-coding RNAs, such as microRNAs, snoRNAs, tRNAs and lncRNAs. With the realization that 80% of the genome is transcribed and only 2% serve as coding regions, the non-coding part of the transcriptome is likely to hold key to understanding many essential biological phenomena as well as pathologies. I will present our strategy for understanding the function of ncRNAs in disease and provide examples from recent studies, where our findings may impact translational and technical sciences.

Industrial applications of RNA synthetic biology
Morten Sommer, Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Biosustainability, The Technical University of Denmark.

TBA

 

Organizers:
University of Copenhagen
DTU
University of Aarhus
Novozymes A/S
Novo Nordisk A/S
Chr. Hansen A/S

              

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