We would like to invite you to the first Northwest RNA Salon meeting series on Thursday, 9 February at the Michael Smith Building (Dover St, Manchester M13 9NT).
The RNA Salon program introduced by the RNA Society provides financial support for recurring local/regional RNA science-based activities with the aim of promoting engagement and interaction among scientists working on different aspects of RNA biology and regulation of gene expression.
Our guest speaker will be one of the most successful British molecular biologists:
Prof Nick Proudfoot (Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, Oxford University) who will give a talk entitled 'Defining transcription units across the human genome' (15:30 - 16:30).
Nick pioneered the transcription termination field through his discovery of an mRNA polyadenylation signal during his PhD in the '70s at the LMB Cambridge where he worked with Fred Sanger, Cesar Milstein, Sydney Brenner and George Brownlee. In 1981, he started his own lab at the Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, Oxford University. Since then he has been leading the transcriptional biology field not only in the UK but also worldwide. He has worked on all aspects of RNA processing and transcription- particularly splicing and transcription termination. Nick has been an EMBO member since 1982, he was awarded a Royal Society/ Wolfson Research Merit award in 2002 and has been the Brownlee-Abraham Chair of Molecular Biology since 2003. He was also nominated to the Royal Society in 2005. More than all of this though, when he eventually puts down the Gilson, his legacy will be the scientists he has trained- many of whom are now running their own labs all around the world, including three researchers in the School of Biological Sciences - Prof Hilary Ashe, Prof Mark Ashe and myself.
Nick's talk will be a mix of mRNA history (very entertaining, "must hear" stories for every molecular biologist!) plus his recent work on analyses of the nascent transcriptome in human cells.
Schedule:
13.30 – 14.30: meet and greet; Michael Smith's Lounge
14.00 – 15.00: Short talks; Michael Smith's Lecture Theatre
Pawel Grzechnik, UoM: 'Introduction to the NW RNA Salon'
Jennifer Love, UoM (H. Ashe lab): 'Combined modelling and imaging suggests a role for P-bodies in mRNA degradation in the Drosophila embryo'
Joanne Cunningham, UoM (C. Grant lab): 'Isoform-specific roles of eIF4G in translational regulation'
15.00 – 15.30: coffee/tea; Michael Smith's Lounge
15.30 - 16.30: Keynote talk; Michael Smith's Lecture Theatre
Nick Proudfoot, University of Oxford: 'Defining transcription units across the human genome'
16.30 – 16.35: closing remarks
16.35 – 17.30: beer and wine; Michael Smith's Lounge
