The Center for RNA Biology would like to congratulate the following students selected for this years fellowships: Kenzie Bevins – Kearse Lab, GeunYoung Sim – Nakanishi Lab,  and Olga Golubeva – Accornero  Lab. Thank you to all of our outstanding applicants for applying. We are looking forward to a productive year!

The American Academy of Arts and Sciences announced the election of its new members for 2020, which include two faculty members from the College of Arts and Sciences: Clark Larsen, Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Anthropology, and Anita Hopper, Distinguished University Scholar and professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics.

“The members of the class of 2020 have excelled in laboratories and lecture halls, they have amazed on concert stages and in surgical suites, and they have led in board rooms and courtrooms,” said David W. Oxtoby, president of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. “These new members are united by a place in history and by an opportunity to shape the future through the academy’s work to advance the public good.”

Larsen is a biological anthropologist whose research focuses on the history of the human condition viewed from the perspective of health, quality of life, adaptation and lifestyle over the last 10,000 years of human evolution. His research and subsequent article based on his study of the ancient city, Çatalhöyük, recently received the 2019 Cozzarelli Prize from the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS). He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Hopper’s research focuses on utilizing yeast (S. cerevisiae) as a model to study the intracellular distribution of RNA and proteins between nucleus and cytoplasm, which is expected to shed light on fundamental cellular processes that affect many aspects of human health. She is a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and she served as chair of the Department of Molecular Genetics from 2006 to 2014.

Larsen and Hopper are joined by 274 other artists, scholars and scientists inducted this year into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Other notable additions include singer, songwriter and activist Joan C. Baez, University of Washington President Ana Mari Cauce, lawyer and former Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. and independent filmmaker Richard Linklater.

Larsen and Hopper will be inducted, along with the rest of this year’s class, at a ceremony in October in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and join the academy members who came before them, including Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Robert Frost, Martin Luther King, Jr., Antonin Scalia, Toni Morrison and Michael Bloomberg.

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The Center for RNA Biology would like to congratulate the following students selected for this years fellowships: Jackson Trotman– Schoenberg Lab, Anne Witzky– Ibba Lab, Sarah Choudury– Slotkin Lab, and Gabriel Silver d’Almeida– Alfonzo Lab. Thank you to all of our outstanding applicants for applying. We are looking forward to a productive year!

The Center for RNA Biology would like to congratulate the following students selected for this years fellowships: Blythe Moreland– Bundschuh Lab, Kiel Tietz– Amacher Lab, and Danny Dayeh– Nakanishi Lab. Thank you to all of our outstanding applicants for applying. We are looking forward to a productive year!

Pioneer RNA Researcher to Receive RNA Society’s Lifetime Achievement Award

Tuesday, February 3, 2015
Anita Hopper
A leader in RNA research for four decades, Anita Hopper, professor and former chair, Department of Molecular Genetics, has worked to understand tRNA biology in the budding yeast model system.

She and her research teams have made some startling, paradigm-shifting discoveries along the way. In the 1970’s, Hopper’s lab reported isolation of the first eukaryotic mutants defective in tRNA biogenesis, and later identified numerous gene products involved in tRNA nuclear export and biogenesis.

Hopper’s use of a broad array of the tools of genetics and molecular biology, along with visualization techniques, allowed her to see that yeast tRNAs are aminoacylated while in the nucleus — a key step in regulating their export to the cytoplasm — and the paradigm-shifting tRNA retrograde pathway by which both yeast and vertebrate cells trigger cytoplasmic tRNAs to accumulate in the nucleus upon nutrient stress or tRNA damage.

This helped set the stage for a better understanding of the role RNA — the most ancient form of nucleic acid — plays in cell development. Today, RNA is a powerful tool used by biologists, mathematicians, physicists, chemists and medical and agricultural researchers to answer important, fundamental questions.

In May, Hopper will receive the ultimate professional tribute to the impact she has had on that field — the RNA Society’s 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award — recognizing “outstanding contributions to the RNA and scientific communities.”

“I am extremely honored and humbled by this prestigious recognition by the RNA Society — an international group of more than 1,000 members dedicated to fostering research and education in the RNA sciences,” Hopper said.

Currently, Hopper’s lab investigates the interactions of tRNA and proteins between the nucleus and cytoplasm in cells, using genome-wide sequencing to uncover mechanisms of tRNA intron turnover and possible alternative tRNA nuclear export pathways.

Ohio State’s Center for RNA Biology Director Dan Schoenberg, said, “Anita is a leader in applying genetics to RNA biology, and in doing so made groundbreaking studies on transfer RNAs (tRNAs). Of her many discoveries perhaps the most exciting is that of retrograde tRNA transport, where in stressed cells tRNAs move from the cytoplasm to the nucleus.

“She also is one of the most active members and supporters of the Center for RNA Biology, where she participates in many of our educational initiatives and plays a leadership role as a member of the RNA Steering Committee.”

Hopper is not known just for her research — although that would be enough — she is celebrated as an exemplary role model, mentor and cheerleader for colleagues, especially junior scientists.

In the eight years that Anita Hopper chaired the Department of Molecular Genetics — she stepped down in September 2014 — she encouraged, inspired and created a supportive atmosphere that attracted and retained some of the country’s top researchers.

Hopper has received many recognitions for her outstanding contributions to science and education; in 2008, she was elected fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences; in 2009, she received the RNA Society’s Lifetime Service Award; and in 2012, the Ohio State University Distinguished Scholar award.

And, of course, there was Anitafest.

In June 2014, more than 300 noted RNA researchers from around the world — as far away as India and Poland — came together to honor Hopper at Anitafest.

These colleagues, collaborators and former students gave scientific presentations and shared Anita-stories:

“Her impact goes way beyond her lab,” one colleague said. “I didn’t work with Anita, but she helped me figure out how to be a scientist. Her enthusiasm and energy played a big role.”

—Sandi Rutkowski

Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that Anita Hopper has been awarded the RNA Society’s 2015 Lifetime Achievement Award.

Dr. Hopper is professor and recent chair of the Department of Molecular Genetics at Ohio State University in Columbus. For the past 40 years she has worked to understand tRNA biology in the budding yeast model system. In the 1970’s her lab reported isolation of the first eukaryotic mutants defective in tRNA biogenesis, and later identified numerous gene products involved in tRNA nuclear export and biogenesis. Dr. Hopper has employed a broad array of genetic, molecular biology and visualization techniques to show, among other things, that yeast tRNAs are aminoacylated while in the nucleus–a key step in regulating their export to the cytoplasm–and the paradigm-shifting tRNA retrograde pathway by which both yeast and vertebrate cells trigger cytoplasmic tRNAs to accumulate in the nucleus upon nutrient stress or tRNA damage. Most recently she has employed genome-wide sequencing to uncover the mechanism of tRNA intron turnover and possible alternative tRNA nuclear export pathways. She has been a leader in her discipline and a role model for junior scientists. Anita was awarded the Society’s lifetime service award in 2009 for her many years of service as board member, president, committee member and conference chair. We are now pleased to add the achievement award to her list of honors.

We hope you will join us in congratulating her, as well as joining us at RNA 2015 in Madison to help us celebrate Dr. Hopper’s lifetime of achievements.

Sincerely,

Sarah Woodson, President
James McSwiggen, CEO
and the RNA Society Board

Scientists with expertise studying yeast, RNA, tRNA, and genomics gathered at the Ohio Union in June 2014 to take part in a special one-day symposium hosted by Ohio State’s Center for RNA Biology.

The symposium, titled “AnitaFest”, was named in honor of Department of Molecular Genetics Professor Anita Hopper, PhD.

The 2014 Fest attracted more than 65 out-of-state attendees, who were treated to a variety speakers over four sessions. The speakers included fellows from the National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy for the Advancement of Science, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Academy for Microbiology, as well as four Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professors.

AnitaFest was organized by Eric Phizicky of the University of Rochester School of Medicine; Stan Fields of the University of Washington School of Medicine; and Dan Schoenberg from Ohio State University’s College of Medicine.

Dr. Hopper has worked at Ohio State since 2006 and was a recipient of The Ohio State University’s Distinguished Scholar Award in 2012.  Her research focuses on the interaction of tRNA and proteins within cells.

For additional pictures of the event, please visit http://rna.osu.edu/resources/pictures/.

The original story created by the Life Sciences Network can be found here

The Center for RNA Biology is please to announce the winners of the 2015 Fellowship Awards. This year’s applicant pool was very strong and we would like to thank all of those who applied. This years award recipients are: Kyle Mohler- Ibba Lab, Katie Anderson – Alfonzo Lab, and Bradley Howard from the Musier-Forsyth Lab. As always, we look forward to a year of exciting work. Congratulations to each of you!

The Center for RNA Biology would like to congratulate the following students selected for this years fellowships: Anna Newman- Meier Lab, Alice Duchon- Musier-Forsyth Lab, and Mike Allen- Henkin Lab. Thank you to all of our outstanding applicants for applying. We are looking forward to a productive year!