RNA Matters Lecture Series | Computational Medicine Center at Jefferson University

About the Series

This is an ongoing lecture series, when there’s an upcoming lecture we will announce it at the top of the page. You can watch past lectures from the links below or by visiting the Jefferson Digital Commons.

2019

Eleonora Leucci, PhD

Affiliation: Professor, Department of Oncology KU Leuven, Belgium

Title: lncRNA and beyond: Uncoupling cytosolic and mitochondrial-translation as an effective anti melanoma strategy

Date: February 28, 2019

Location: Bluemle, Room 107

Time: 11AM-12PM

No video available

2018

Panagiotis (Panos) Roussos, MD, PhD

Affiliation: Associate Professor, Department of Genetics and Genomic Sciences, and the Department of Psychiatry Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY

Title: Big Data Analysis and Genetic Liability to Neuropsychiatric Disease

Date: Monday May 21, 2018

Location: Jefferson Alumni Hall, Room 207

Time: 3:30-4:30pm

Video:

2017

Nikos Kyrpides, PhD

Affiliation: Prokaryote Super Program Head, DOE Joint Genome Institute

Title: Identifying the micro from the peta: tales of big data in the micro world

Abstract: View abstractHide abstract

Shotgun sequencing of environmental samples has revealed a new universe of microbial communities (metagenomes) involving previously uncultured organisms, which is expected to further advance our understanding the structure and function of entire microbial communities and expand our current knowledge of genetic and functional diversity of individual micro-organisms. Although most metagenomic studies aim to unveil the genetic and functional novelty present in various environments, current best practices in metagenome analysis tools, and workflows, are suffering from a number of pitfalls, impairing the fulfillment of this objective. I will describe some of our computational approaches and will emphasize the value of assemblies in enabling the exploration of large metagenomic datasets and the discovery of novelty. I will discuss the results for the discovery of novel phylogenetic lineages as well as the exploration of the viral dark matter.

Date: Monday June 26, 2017

Location: Jefferson Alumni Hall, Solis Cohen Auditorium

Time: 3:30-4:30pm

Video:

Anindya Dutta, MD, PhD

Affiliation: Byrd Professor and Department Chair, Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, University of Virginia

Title: Noncoding RNAs Regulating Differentiation and Cancer

Abstract: View abstractHide abstract

I will present novel long noncoding RNAs that we have identified because of their roles in skeletal muscle differentiation (H19 and MUNC) and in the progression of cancers (DRAIC). I will end with a discussion on a novel family of short RNAs, tRFs, that regulate gene expression.

Date: Wednesday June 7, 2017

Location: Jefferson Alumni Hall, Solis Cohen Auditorium

Time: 3:30-4:30pm

Video:

Todd M. Lowe, PhD

Affiliation: Professor and Chair, Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz

Title: The Human tRNA Story: A Complex Epigenomic Landscape Unfolds

Abstract: View abstractHide abstract

Despite mounting evidence for the importance of tRNA regulation in diverse biological processes, relatively little is known about the regulation of specific tRNA loci in complex multicellular organisms. In humans, as in most eukaryotes, tRNA genes comprise one of the largest single gene families that produce more transcripts than any other type of RNA. However, estimates of transcriptional activity of the 500+ individual human tRNA genes across multiple tissue types are almost entirely absent due to difficulty measuring specific tRNA transcript abundance on a large scale, as well as uncertain assignment of most transcripts among identical loci. I will present our new analyses of human tRNA genes using a combination of (1) specialized tRNA-seq transcriptional analyses (ARM-seq), (2) epigenetic data revealing transcription activation states associated with each gene over a range of cell types, and (3) and novel insights derived from a new version of tRNAscan-SE, which has been the standard for tRNA gene prediction for two decades. Enhancements to tRNAscan-SE include development of over 100 new, specialized tRNA covariance models which enable improved classification of eukaryotic, bacterial, archaeal, and mitochondrial tRNAs. These new computational analyses and experimental data are being integrated into the Genomic tRNA Database to provide the most comprehensive view of tRNA form & function, enabling new insights and suggesting new studies in tRNA and tRNA-derived small RNA research.

Date: Wednesday April 19, 2017

Location: Jefferson Alumni Hall, Solis Cohen Auditorium

Time: 3:30-4:30pm

Video:

2016

Tao Pan, PhD

Affiliation: Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Committee on Microbiology, The University of Chicago

Title: mRNA and tRNA Modifications in the Regulation of Gene Expression

Date: Wednesday November 16, 2016

Location: Jefferson Alumni Hall, Solis Cohen Auditorium

Time: 3:30-4:30pm

Video:

George A. Calin, MD, PhD

Affiliation: Professor, Departments of Experimental Therapeutics & Leukemia Co-Director, The RNA Interference and Non-Coding RNA Center The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center Houston, Texas

Title: About Chomsky, DNA Patterns, Non-Coding RNAs and Cancer Patients

Date: Thursday June 10, 2016

Location: Jefferson Alumni Hall, Room 207

Time: 12:00-1:00pm

Video:

2014

Carol J. Bult, PhD

Affiliation: Professor, Deputy Director, The Jackson Laboratory Cancer Center. Scientific Director, Patient Derived Xenograft/Cancer Avatar Program, The Jackson Laboratory, Bar Harbor, Maine, 04609

Title: Patient Derived Xenografts (PDX) and Individualized Cancer Therapy

Abstract: View abstractHide abstract

Genomic medicine offers the potential of improved outcomes for cancer patients by treating each individual with targeted therapies based on the genetic profile of their tumor. The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) has developed a platform for genomic and in vivo drug efficacy studies to advance the development of novel cancer therapies that are tailored to an individual patient. At the foundation of this platform are Patient Derived Xenografts (PDX) that are created by implanting human tumor material in immunodeficient NOD.Cg-Prkdc^scid Il2rg^tm1Wjl/SzJ (NOD scid gamma or NSG) mice. We have engrafted human tumors from over 20 different types of cancer into NSG mice to build a living tumor bank of over 350 Patient Derived Xenografts (PDX). Panels of PDX mice are ideally suited for “virtual clinical trials” to test experimental and existing therapies on a large scale and with high throughput. In this presentation I will describe the current state of the PDX resource and review the results of several Cancer Avatar platform validation studies, including the integration of PDX models with Phase II/III clinical trials in bladder and lung cancer.

Date: Monday November 17, 2014

Location: Jefferson Alumni Hall, Solis-Cohen Auditorium 1^st floor (East End of Building)

Time: 2:00-3:00pm

Video:

Howard-Yana Shapiro, PhD

Affiliation: Chief Agricultural Officer, Mars Advanced Research Institute Fellow, MARS, INCORPORATED, University of California, Davis, The World Agroforestry Centre

Title: “Ending Stunting in Rural Africa Through Enhanced Nutrition and Micro-Nutrients in Plants” — It is not so much a question of more food. It is more a question of better food.

Abstract: View abstractHide abstract

Stunting caused by chronic hunger and malnutrition will not be easily ended through food supplementation. With more than 35% of the children in rural Africa and more than 45% of the rural children in India stun ted, a global effort on the fundamental food crops of those populations must be improved to end stunting. This effort would be unprecedented in plant science. It is not a single crop but a large portfolio of diverse crops being worked on simultaneously that will allow the world to reduce the incidence of stunting and its devastating impact. This effort is underway with the African Orphan Crops Consortium. Using state of the art genomics, 101 key food crops of Africa will be breed for nutritional enhance ment, increased yields, climatic resistance, water and nutrient use efficiency, and pest and disease resistance. This is the first step in an improved nutritional and food security system.

Date: Wednesday October 22, 2014

Location: Bluemle Life Sciences Building, Rooms 105/107

Time: Noon

Video:

Tuuli Lappalainen, PhD

Affiliation: New York Genome Center, and Department of Systems Biology Columbia University

Title: Transcriptome Sequencing Uncovers Functional Variation in the Human Genome

Date: Wednesday April 23, 2014

Location: Connelly Auditorium of the Hamilton Building

Time: 3:30pm

Video:

Edison T. Liu, MD

Affiliation: President and CEO of the Jackson Laboratory

Title: Systems Biology in Cancer Medicine: Combinatorics and the Long Tail

Date: Wednesday March 5, 2014

Location: Connelly Auditorium of the Hamilton Building

Time: Noon

Video:

2013

Lin He, PhD

Affiliation: Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, University of California at Berkeley

Title: miRNAs in the oncogene and tumor suppressor network

Date: Monday May 20, 2013

Location: TBD

Time: 3:30pm

Video:

Oliver Hobert, PhD

Affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University Medical Center

Title: Regulation of miRNA expression in the context of functional lateralization of the brain

Date: Wednesday February 13, 2013

Location: Solis-Cohen Auditorium of the Jefferson Alumni Hall Building

Time: 3:30pm

Video:

2012

Zissimos Mourelatos, MD

Affiliation: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Title: piRNAs and piRNPs: the good shepherds of the germline

Date: Wednesday October 24, 2012

Location: BLSB 101 of the Bluemle Life Sciences Building

Time: 3:30pm

Video:

Gideon Dreyfuss, PhD

Affiliation: Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Title: U1 snRNP determines mRNA length: an unexpected dimension in gene expression regulation

Date: Wednesday May 16, 2012

Location: Connelly Auditorium of the Hamilton Building

Time: 3:30pm

No video available

James Eberwine, PhD

Affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Title: Cellular RNA Memory and the Sentinel RNA Hypothesis

Date: Wednesday April 25, 2012

Location: Connelly Auditorium of the Hamilton Building

Time: 3:30pm

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2011

Neil Smalheiser, MD/PhD

Affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago

Title: Two stories of small RNAs in synaptic plasticity

Date: Tuesday June 14, 2011

Location: Connelly Auditorium of the Hamilton Building

Time: 3:30pm

Video:

Frank Slack, PhD

Affiliation: Department of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, Yale University

Title: MicroRNAs as targets and targeted therapies in cancer

Date: Wednesday May 11, 2011

Location: Connelly Auditorium of the Hamilton Building

Time: 3:30pm

Video:

Eric Lai, PhD

Affiliation: Developmental Biology Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

Title: MicroRNAs: Biogenesis and Function

Date: Thursday February 24, 2011

Location: Connelly Auditorium of the Hamilton Building

Time: 3:30pm

Video:

2010

Ramin Shiekhattar, PhD

Affiliation: Gene Expression and Regulation Program, The Wistar Institute

Title: Long non-coding RNAs as enhancers of transcription

Date: Wednesday December 15, 2010

Time: 3:30pm

No video available

Pier Paolo Pandolfi, MD, PhD

Affiliation: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School

Title: A Novel Biological Dimension for Coding and Non-Coding mRNAs and its Role in Tumorigenesis

Date: Monday October 18, 2010

Time: 3:30pm

No video available