Introduction

Participating STREPs

Riboreg

Callimir

Only a few years ago, the pervasive role of non-protein-coding RNA (npcRNA), in cellular function and genome evolution was unimaginable. Today, however, a combination of biocomputational and experimental methods indicates that mammalian genomes harbour a great number of highly diverse npcRNAs. Among them are more than one thousand micro RNAs (miRNAs) alone. These short RNAs (~20-25 nucleotides, nt) play key roles in regulation of gene expression at important stages in organismal development. Furthermore, hundreds of novel snoRNAs have been discovered. The potential complexity of large mRNA-like RNAs that do not encode protein is stunning. It needs to be established, however, how many of these RNAs are mere transcriptional noise. Apart from complementing our understanding of gene regulation and the fact that npcRNA have - just like proteins - the potential to be involved in the etiology of human disease, a lot of hope rests on miRNAs and short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) as future tools for diagnostics and therapeutic intervention in a number of diseases including cancer.

This workshop will discuss multicellular Eukarya (plants, animals) and single cellular Eukarya as well as Bacteria and Archaea. The plethora of npcRNA candidates, especially the uncategorized long RNA species will be one of the important questions to discuss at the workshop. A general theme will be the discussion of strategies that lead from npcRNA predictions and validation to establishing their function.

Apart from the direct scientific significance of this meeting, a main purpose is to assess the competence and critical mass in this dynamic field that had been developed in Europe . For that reason, we are striving to centre the workshop around participants of the thematically related STREPs RIBOREG, FOSRAK, BACRNAs and Callimir.

Venue

The meeting will be held at Le Vacanciel Convention Centre in Carry le Rouet near Marseille.

Registration

Registration is closed.

Draft Programme

Please see workshop website.

Speakers

M Boccara
J Brosius
J Burgyan
J Cavaillé
C Charlier
M Crespi
F Cuzin
JM Deragon
A Ferguson-Smith
S Hennig
K Kalantidis
S Kauppinen
A Kretzschmar
E Meyer
G Obernosterer
F Pagani
J Paz Ares
M Rassoulzadegan
F Repoila
P Romby
N Sade
A Sandqvist
R Schroeder
A Slonimsky
F Soederbom
H Vaucheret
G Wagner
JW Wang
E Wiemer
J van Wolfswinkel

Sponsors