July 20, 2005 for immediate release

Next week, UNBC will be hosting the firstconference that will bring together scientists from around western Canada whostudy RNA, a key component of our genetic code that is implicated in diseasessuch as cancer and cystic fibrosis. Last year, Science magazine called RNA its “Molecule of the Year” becauseof the large number of biological processes that RNA has recently been found toregulate.

“The fields covered by RNAscience are extremely broad, and many of them are at the cutting edge of modernbiology,” says UNBC Biochemistry professor Stephen Rader. “Scientistscontinue to be surprised at the number of things that RNA can do that havetraditionally been viewed as the exclusive domain of proteins.”

Next week, UNBC will be hosting the firstconference that will bring together scientists from around western Canada whostudy RNA, a key component of our genetic code that is implicated in diseasessuch as cancer and cystic fibrosis. Last year, Science magazine called RNA its “Molecule of the Year” becauseof the large number of biological processes that RNA has recently been found toregulate.

“The fields covered by RNAscience are extremely broad, and many of them are at the cutting edge of modernbiology,” says UNBC Biochemistry professor Stephen Rader. “Scientistscontinue to be surprised at the number of things that RNA can do that havetraditionally been viewed as the exclusive domain of proteins.”

Dr.Raderconducts research on how RNA molecules are spliced together to createdifferentgenetic combinations. He came to UNBC from the Universityof California at San Francisco and currently has five UNBCstudents working in his research lab; four of them have receivedfunding fromthe prestigious Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.  Thephoto here depicts Dr. Rader (second from right) with the studentresearchers funded by MSFHR.

About 50scientists are expected to attend the conference, which will take place fromJuly 25-27 at UNBC’s Prince Georgecampus. It is being sponsored by GenomeBC, GenomePrairie, and UNBC. The keynotespeaker for the conference is Dr. Olke Uhlenbeck, Professor of Biochemistry,Molecular Biology, and Cell Biology at NorthwesternUniversity in Illinois. Dr. Uhlenbeck is a past president of the international RNA Society andhas been studying how RNA works since 1970. 

Contact:
Rob van Adrichem, Director of Media and Public Relations, UNBC - 250.960.5622