About 60 genetic researchers from universities across western Canadawill be attending a conference at UNBC on Monday and Tuesday designedto share new results and discuss future genetic research opportunities.Attendees to the RiboWest 2007 conference will be specifically focusingon ribonucleic acid (RNA), which carries the genetic information foundin DNA to carry out various functions in the body.

Over the past few years, RNA has emerged as a research strength forUNBC. For example, recent discoveries related to the growth andaggressiveness of cancer cells involved research on RNA. In addition,UNBC scientists are studying RNA in a microorganism that contributessignificantly to global warming by producing methane. Other research atthe University is exploring a process called RNA splicing, which occurswhen genetic material is cut in various locations to create many newproteins. Errors in this splicing process are believed to cause suchdiseases as cancer and cystic fibrosis.

Three UNBC students – Daniel Chapman of Terrace, Brianne Burkinshaw ofPrince George, and Bonnie Ollenberger of Prince George – have received$4,5oo scholarships from the Natural Sciences and Engineering ResearchCouncil of Canada to advance their research on RNA splicing. Theirresearch looks specifically at the molecular factors that actually makesplicing work.

“Our research team is comprised of 11 students and all of them will bemaking presentations at RiboWest, further proof that small universitiescan make important contributions to research at the frontiers ofscience,” says Biochemistry professor Stephen Rader, one of theconference organizers.

As part of the conference program, GenomeBC will be making anannouncement about new funding for genetic research that will focus onsix sectors of the BC economy, including fisheries, mining, andforestry. This announcement will take place on Monday, at 1pm, in theBentley Centre.

Click here for the RiboWest conference website.

“UNBC research is at the forefront of understanding what truly makes usalive and how environmental conditions may affect our health,” adds Dr.Rader. “At the same time, we think that RNA is vital to unlockinganswers about why some things just don’t work in people or why somepeople suffer from diseases that others don’t. These are fundamentalquestions and we’re helping to answer them.”

RiboWest 2007 will be held on July 30 and 31 in the Bentley Centreandthe Dr. Donald Rix Northern Health Sciences Centre on campus. It isbeing supported by General Electric Healthcare, Genome BC, IntegratedDNA Technologies, ESBE Scientific, MediCorp, and Qiagen.

Contact:
Stephen Rader, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology professor, UNBC – 250.960.6216
Rob van Adrichem, Director of Media and Public Relations, UNBC – 250.960.5622
  

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RNAresearchers at UNBC: Heath de la Giroday, Sepehr Masoumi-Alamouti,Bonnie Ollenberger, Daniel Chapman, Elizabeth Chester, Paul Kahlke,Brianne Burkinshaw, Stephen Rader, Kamalprit Chohan (front), and MarthaStark (back).

Scholarship recipients Daniel Chapman, Brianne Burkinshaw, and Bonnie Ollenberger. 

Brianne Burkinshaw places RNA gels in a saline solution to make the RNA more visible.