One of modern biology’s biggest surprises is the finding that the human genome contains only about 20,000 protein-coding genes, comprising less than 2% of the genome sequence. However, recent data imply that the human genome is pervasively transcribed and encodes tens of thousands of non-protein coding RNAs (ncRNAs) that play critical regulatory roles in numerous biological processes. An improved understanding of basic RNA biology and the complexity of the human transcriptome has triggered a corresponding revolution in development of RNA-based therapies, which hold the promise for treatment of a wide range of life-threatening diseases. Notably, RNA drugs can be designed to target essentially any RNA transcript encoded by the genome and can thus target a large part of the currently undruggable genome.
The PhD Course “RNA Medicine - From Bench to Bedside” is organized by the Center for RNA Medicine (CRM) in November 8-12, 2021 at Aalborg University Campus Copenhagen. The course is targeted for PhD students in biomedical research or molecular biology with an interest in non-coding RNA (ncRNA) biology in human health and disease, and discovery and development of RNA-based medicine.
The PhD course will provide the participants with an overview of ncRNA biology and development of RNA therapeutics and consists of a series of research seminars and laboratory exercises. The seminars will cover key topics in the rapidly expanding field of RNA research from ncRNA biology, high-throughput RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) methods and bioinformatics/computational analysis of RNA-seq data to the emerging roles of ncRNAs in human disease and development of RNA-based medicines. Each seminar will be followed by a scientific discussion of the participating PhD students with the lecturer. As preparation, two scientific papers selected by the lecturer have to be read prior to the PhD course.
The laboratory exercises are designed to provide hands-on experience with key methods and tools used in ncRNA research and discovery of RNA-targeted therapeutics.
Registration:
Please, register here before October 18, 2021.