The Schoenberg Lectureship
The Center for RNA Biology (CRB) is excited to launch an annual lectureship to honor Dr. Daniel Schoenberg’s nearly quarter century-long leadership of RNA research at OSU and the Midwest. Among his many achievements in his distinguished career, two of Dr. Schoenberg’s key legacies are the founding (along with partner institutions) of the Rustbelt RNA Meeting in 1999 and establishment of the Center for RNA Biology at OSU in 2012. He served as the CRB’s first director from 2012-2018.
The Schoenberg Lectureship will be an annual celebration of the triumphs of RNA research with participants from the scientific community and the general public. The lectureship will comprise of two talks, a public lecture and a technical research seminar. By showcasing the remarkable recent achievements and tremendous future potential of RNA research to revolutionize medicine and address big societal challenges, we expect this two-lecture format to capture the interest of the general public and inspire the OSU research community.
Save the Date!
The 2nd Annual Schoenberg Lecture
October 13-14, 2024
Dr. Adrian Krainer
St. Giles Foundation Professor
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory
Sunday, October 13, 2024 - Fawcett Center Conference Theater
Public Lecture hosted by Science Sundays
Lecture - 3PM
"Shooting the messenger: “Antisense” therapies for rare diseases"
Reception - 4PM
Monday October 14, 2024 - 115 BRT
Scientific talk hosted by the Center for RNA Biology
"Antisense Modulation of RNA Splicing for Rare Disease Therapy"
Join us for the 2nd Annual Schoenberg Lectureship presented by the Center for RNA Biology in partnership with Science Sundays.
Ongoing basic research to understand how cells decode the information present in our genes has recently made it possible to develop new types of drugs. We will discuss one of the key steps in this genetic decoding, namely how messenger RNA (mRNA) undergoes splicing. Splicing edits each mRNA to remove non-coding segments, so that the information it carries can be used to make a protein. We will also discuss how mRNA splicing can be precisely manipulated with designer drugs called antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs), for example to correct defective splicing in the context of disease. One notable example we will discuss is an ASO drug that is being used to prevent or treat a deadly neurodegenerative disease.
This event is free and open to the public. RSVP link coming soon!
Adrian Krainer is the St. Giles Foundation Professor at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in Long Island, NY. His lab studies how messenger RNA is naturally produced in human cells, focusing on a crucial editing step called RNA splicing and aiming to understand its mechanism, regulation, and dysfunction in disease. In addition, his lab is engaged in the development of “antisense” drugs that target RNA splicing in the context of various genetic diseases and cancers. Together with Ionis Pharmaceuticals and Biogen, Dr. Krainer’s lab developed an antisense drug called nusinersen (Spinraza), which was approved by the FDA in 2016 as the first treatment for spinal muscular atrophy, a neurodegenerative disease that was the leading genetic cause of infant mortality. His awards and accolades include election to the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Inventors, and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences; the Life Sciences Breakthrough Prize, the Lifetime Achievement Award of the RNA Society, the International Prize for Translational Neuroscience, the Speiser Award in Pharmaceutical Sciences, the Takeda Pharmaceuticals Innovators in Science Senior Scientist Award in Rare Diseases, the Ross Prize in Molecular Medicine, the Wolf Prize in Medicine, the Gabbay Award in Biotechnology & Medicine, the Watanabe Prize in Translational Research, and an honorary doctorate from Tel Aviv University. At CSHL, Dr. Krainer has mentored 23 doctoral students and 38 postdoctoral fellows from 22 countries. He served as President of the RNA Society in 2014, and currently serves on the advisory boards of several scientific centers and networks, non-profit foundations, and biotechnology companies in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America.
The inaugural 2023 Schoenberg Lectureship was presented by Dr. Melissa J. Moore.
Click below to play the video.
Congratulations to the poster award winners!
Poster Title: Splicing: Critical for good movies and good health
Labs: Burghes and Singh lab collaboration
Presenters: Anton Blatnik and Caleb Embree
Click to view the Inaugural Schoenberg Lectureship Posters
About Dr. Melissa J. Moore
Dr. Moore is a distinguished RNA scientist who has spent decades researching RNA, mainly working to extend fundamental knowledge around how it is created, used — and destroyed — in mammalian cells. After many years as an academic researcher, she joined Moderna and served as its chief scientific officer 2016-2022. Work from her team on mRNA engineering and delivery was foundational to the rapid production of Moderna’s highly effective mRNA vaccine for SARS-CoV-2. In her current role at Moderna, she is passionate to educate the public, industry leadership and other stakeholders about what she sees as the coming age of RNA medicines. She has earned numerous academic accolades, including a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigatorship and election to the National Academy of Science and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Click to see photos of the Schoenberg Lecture Science Sunday Talk