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RNA Nanotechnology

Gordon Research Conference

RNA Self-Assembly, Packaging, Imaging and Therapeutics

January 8 - 13, 2023

Chairs Sarah A. Woodson and Louise C. Laurent

Vice Chairs Mark Bathe and Dolores Di Vizio

Four Points Sheraton / Holiday Inn Express

1050 Schooner Drive

Ventura, California, United States

Venue and Travel Information

Conference Description

The RNA Nanotechnology GRC is a premier, international scientific conference focused on advancing the frontiers of science through the presentation of cutting-edge and unpublished research, prioritizing time for discussion after each talk and fostering informal interactions among scientists of all career stages. The conference program includes a diverse range of speakers and discussion leaders from institutions and organizations worldwide, concentrating on the latest developments in the field. The conference is five days long and held in a remote location to increase the sense of camaraderie and create scientific communities, with lasting collaborations and friendships. In addition to premier talks, the conference has designated time for poster sessions from individuals of all career stages, and afternoon free time and communal meals allow for informal networking opportunities with leaders in the field.

The 2023 GRC on RNA Nanotechnology will promote scientific exchange and cross-disciplinary collaborations among scientists working in RNA chemistry, biology, biophysics, medicine, engineering and biotechnology. The nine sessions will feature presentations on nucleic acid structure and assembly, RNA modification, synthetic biology, nanostructures, biomaterials, extracellular vesicles, therapeutics, diagnostics, and imaging. Each session will also include short talks selected from abstracts submitted by poster presenters. Ample opportunities for extended discussions will be provided after each presentation and during breaks.

This conference aims to expand participation in the young and dynamic field of RNA Nanotechnology. A Power Hour will offer all attendees an opportunity to discuss topics and challenges of diversity and inclusion in the sciences. The 2023 GRC will be preceded by a Gordon Research Seminar (GRS) organized by young researchers, who are strongly encouraged to also participate in the main conference.

We hope you join the conversation at the leading edge of RNA science and technology!

Related Meeting

This GRC will be held in conjunction with the "RNA Nanotechnology" Gordon Research Seminar (GRS). Those interested in attending both meetings must submit an application for the GRS in addition to an application for the GRC. Refer to the associated GRS program page for more information.

Conference Program

Sunday
2:00 pm - 9:00 pm	Arrival and Check-in
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 7:40 pm	Introductory Comments by GRC Staff / Welcome and Introduction from the Chairs
7:40 pm - 9:30 pm	RNA Structure and Assembly Discussion Leader: Donovan Chin (Fog Pharma, United States)
7:40 pm - 7:50 pm	Introduction by Discussion Leader
7:50 pm - 8:10 pm	Rhiju Das (Stanford University, United States) "Modeling and Design of RNA-only Structures"
8:10 pm - 8:20 pm	Discussion
8:20 pm - 8:40 pm	Silvi Rouskin (Harvard Medical School, United States) "RNA Kinks, Knots, and Switches Controlling Gene Expression"
8:40 pm - 8:50 pm	Discussion
8:50 pm - 9:00 pm	Deepak Koirala (University of Maryland Baltimore County, United States) "Structural Basis for RNA-Based Strategy of Enteroviral Genome Replication"
9:00 pm - 9:05 pm	Discussion
9:05 pm - 9:25 pm	Nils Walter (University of Michigan, United States) "Dynamic Intracellular Condensation of RNA:Protein Complexes"
9:25 pm - 9:30 pm	Discussion
Monday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
8:30 am - 9:00 am	Group Photo
9:00 am - 12:30 pm	RNA Therapeutics Discussion Leader: Tushar Patel (Mayo Clinic, United States)
9:00 am - 9:15 am	Introduction by Discussion Leader
9:15 am - 9:35 am	Xandra Breakefield (Harvard Medical School / Massachusetts General Hospital, United States) "Extracellular Vesicles as an RNA Delivery Platform"
9:35 am - 9:45 am	Discussion
9:45 am - 10:05 am	Judy Lieberman (Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, United States) "Aptamer-Targeted Gene Knockdown for Cancer Immune Therapy"
10:05 am - 10:15 am	Discussion
10:15 am - 10:25 am	Kumiko Ui-Tei (The University of Tokyo, Japan) "SNPD-siRNA: A New Technology of RNA Interference That Can Knockdown the Gene with Single Nucleotide Mutation Without Suppressing The Wild-type Gene"
10:25 am - 10:30 am	Discussion
10:30 am - 11:00 am	Coffee Break
11:00 am - 11:20 am	Anastasia Khvorova (University of Massachusetts Medical School, United States) "Expanding the Chemical Diversity of Therapeutic Oligonucleotides"
11:20 am - 11:30 am	Discussion
11:30 am - 11:50 am	Muthiah (Mano) Manoharan (Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, United States) "Living in the World of RNA Therapeutics Utilizing Chemistry"
11:50 am - 12:00 pm	Discussion
12:00 pm - 12:10 pm	B.J. (Byungji) Kim (MIT, United States) "Role of the Type 1 Interferon Response in Humoral Immunity Elicited by Self-Replicating RNA Vaccines"
12:10 pm - 12:15 pm	Discussion
12:15 pm - 12:30 pm	Poster Previews
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm	Free Time
3:00 pm - 4:00 pm	The GRC Power Hour™ The GRC Power Hour™ is designed to address diversity and inclusion in the scientific workplace by providing a safe environment for informal and meaningful conversations amongst colleagues of all career stages. The program supports the professional growth of all members of our communities, including ethnicity, race and/or gender identity by providing an open forum for discussion and mentoring. Organizer: Wendy Gilbert (Yale University, United States)
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	RNA Aptamers and Riboswitches Discussion Leader: Kathleen Hall (Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, United States)
7:30 pm - 7:45 pm	Introduction by Discussion Leader
7:45 pm - 8:10 pm	Julius Lucks (Northwestern University, United States) "How Do RNAs Fold Dynamically?"
8:10 pm - 8:20 pm	Discussion
8:20 pm - 8:45 pm	Neil White (Yale University, United States) "Natural Riboswitches Selective for Lithium and Sodium"
8:45 pm - 8:55 pm	Discussion
8:55 pm - 9:20 pm	Ming Hammond (University of Utah, United States) "RNA-Based Fluorescent Biosensors"
9:20 pm - 9:30 pm	Discussion
Tuesday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pm	RNA Encapsulation and Delivery Discussion Leader: Thomas Hermann (University of California, San Diego, United States)
9:00 am - 9:15 am	Introduction by Discussion Leader
9:15 am - 9:35 am	Anil Sood (MD Anderson Cancer Center, United States) "Opportunities Across Kingdoms for RNAi Delivery"
9:35 am - 9:45 am	Discussion
9:45 am - 10:05 am	Neil King (University of Washington, United States) "RNA-Launched and RNA-Packaging Self-Assembling Protein Nanomaterials"
10:05 am - 10:15 am	Discussion
10:15 am - 10:25 am	Yelixza Avila (University of North Carolina at Charlotte, United States) "PAMAM Dendrimers as A Carrier for Nucleic Acid Nanoparticles"
10:25 am - 10:30 am	Discussion
10:30 am - 11:00 am	Coffee Break
11:00 am - 11:20 am	Drew Weissman (university of pennsylvania, United States) "Nucleoside-Modified mRNA-LNP Therapeutics"
11:20 am - 11:30 am	Discussion
11:30 am - 11:50 am	SUDIPTO CHAKRABORTTY (Exosome Diagnostics, Bio-Techne, United States) "Tissue Specific RNA Profiling from Plasma Extracellular Vesicles"
11:50 am - 12:00 pm	Discussion
12:00 pm - 12:10 pm	Kyungjik Yang (Department of Biotechnology, College of Life Science and Biotechnology, Yonsei University, South Korea) "Surface-Functionalized Polymeric siRNA Nanoparticles for Tunable Targeting and Intracellular Delivery to Hematologic Cancer Cells"
12:10 pm - 12:15 pm	Discussion
12:15 pm - 12:30 pm	Poster Previews
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm	Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	RNA Modifications and Biotypes Discussion Leader: Jorgen Kjems (Aarhus University, Denmark)
7:30 pm - 7:45 pm	Introduction by Discussion Leader
7:45 pm - 8:05 pm	Wendy Gilbert (Yale University, United States) "Canonical and Non-Canonical Functions of Uridine Modifying Enzymes in Health and Disease"
8:05 pm - 8:10 pm	Discussion
8:10 pm - 8:30 pm	Todd Lowe (University of California, Santa Cruz, United States) "The Leap in tRNA Molecule Evolution in Vertebrates"
8:30 pm - 8:35 pm	Discussion
8:35 pm - 8:55 pm	Ryan Flynn (Boston Children's Hospital, United States) "GlycoRNAs: Bridging the Gap Between Glycobiology and RNA biology"
8:55 pm - 9:00 pm	Discussion
9:00 pm - 9:10 pm	Jaimie Stewart (California Institute of Technology, United States) "Modular RNA Motifs for Phase Separation and Molecular Organization"
9:10 pm - 9:15 pm	Discussion
9:15 pm - 9:25 pm	Maheen S. Batool (Massachusetts General Hospital, United States) "Circulating Extracellular Vesicle RNA of Glioma Patients"
9:25 pm - 9:30 pm	Discussion
Wednesday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
9:00 am - 12:30 pm	RNA Imaging Discussion Leader: Nils Walter (University of Michigan, United States)
9:00 am - 9:05 am	Introduction by Discussion Leader
9:05 am - 9:25 am	Amy Palmer (University of Colorado Boulder, United States) "Riboswitch-Based Tools for RNA Imaging"
9:25 am - 9:35 am	Discussion
9:35 am - 9:55 am	Murat Sunbul (Heidelberg University, Germany) "Aptamers for Super-Resolution RNA Imaging and Single-Molecule Tracking"
9:55 am - 10:05 am	Discussion
10:05 am - 10:15 am	Weihan Li (Albert Einstein College of Medicine, United States) "Imaging the Spatial Coordination of Cytosolic and Mitochondrial Translation"
10:15 am - 10:20 am	Discussion
10:20 am - 10:50 am	Coffee Break
10:50 am - 11:10 am	Tijana Jovanovic-Talisman (Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope, United States) "Molecular Imaging of Extracellular Vesicles to Define Their Size and Content"
11:10 am - 11:20 am	Discussion
11:20 am - 11:40 am	David Shechner (University of Washington, United States) "Meet the Neighbors: A Universal Technology for Probing RNA-Interactions and RNA-Scaffolded Subcellular Compartments In Situ."
11:40 am - 11:50 am	Discussion
11:50 am - 12:10 pm	William Greenleaf (Stanford University, United States) "Massively-parallel, Quantitative Assays for Linking RNA Sequence, Structure, and Function"
12:10 pm - 12:15 pm	Discussion
12:15 pm - 12:25 pm	Joseph Yesselman (University of Nebraska-Lincoln, United States) "Determining RNA motifs' 3D Structure and Dynamics Using RNA Nanostructures"
12:25 pm - 12:30 pm	Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm	Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	RNA Cargo Selection in EVs Discussion Leader: Xandra Breakefield (Harvard Medical School / Massachusetts General Hospital, United States)
7:30 pm - 7:45 pm	Introduction by Discussion Leader
7:45 pm - 8:05 pm	Samir El Andaloussi (Karolinska Institutet, Sweden) "Engineering Extracellular Vesicles for Targeted Delivery of RNA and Protein Therapeutics"
8:05 pm - 8:15 pm	Discussion
8:15 pm - 8:35 pm	Alissa Weaver (Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, United States) "Biogenesis of RNA-Containing Extracellular Vesicles"
8:35 pm - 8:45 pm	Discussion
8:45 pm - 9:05 pm	Jayanta (Jay) Debnath (University of California, San Francisco, United States) "Secretory Autophagy and Cargo Specification in EVPs"
9:05 pm - 9:15 pm	Discussion
9:15 pm - 9:25 pm	Priyanka Gokulnath (Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, United States) "Extracellular Vesicle Cargo Transcriptome Reveals Cellular Origin and Pathways Specific to Heart Failure Subtype"
9:25 pm - 9:30 pm	Discussion
Thursday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
8:30 am - 9:00 am	Business Meeting Nominations for the Next Vice Chair(s); Complete the GRC Evaluation Forms; Discuss Future Dates and Venue; Election of the Next Vice Chair(s)
9:00 am - 12:30 pm	RNA-Based Biomarkers and Diagnostics Discussion Leader: Kendall Van Keuren-Jensen (Translational Genomics Research Institute, United States)
9:00 am - 9:15 am	Introduction by Discussion Leader
9:15 am - 9:35 am	Jorgen Kjems (Aarhus University, Denmark) "Aptamers at Work – Effective Neutralization of SARS-CoV-2 and Identifying Protein Biomarkers in Biofluids Using Highly Parallelized RNA Aptamer Screens"
9:35 am - 9:45 am	Discussion
9:45 am - 9:55 am	Nestor Sampedro (Aarhus University, Denmark) "Traptamer: Trapping and release of fluorescent aptamers in RNA origami frames"
9:55 am - 10:00 am	Discussion
10:00 am - 10:30 am	Coffee Break
10:30 am - 10:50 am	Saumya Das (Mass Gen Hospital, United States) "Leveraging the Circulating EV-Transcriptome for Insights into Disease Pathogenesis"
10:50 am - 11:00 am	Discussion
11:00 am - 11:20 am	Muller Fabbri (Children's National Hospital, United States) "Exploiting Vesicular MicroRNAs as Cancer Therapeutics"
11:20 am - 11:30 am	Discussion
11:30 am - 11:50 am	Meni Wanunu (Northeastern University, United States) "Methods for Single-Molecule Analysis Powered by Nanotechnology"
11:50 am - 12:00 pm	Discussion
12:00 pm - 12:20 pm	Casey Platnich (University of Cambridge, United Kingdom) "Hybrid DNA/RNA Nanostructures"
12:20 pm - 12:30 pm	Discussion
12:30 pm - 1:30 pm	Lunch
1:30 pm - 4:00 pm	Free Time
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm	Poster Session
6:00 pm - 7:00 pm	Dinner
7:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Synthetic and Programmed Nucleic Acid Assemblies Discussion Leader: Kirill Afonin (University of North Carolina at Charlotte, United States)
7:30 pm - 7:45 pm	Introduction by Discussion Leader
7:45 pm - 8:05 pm	Rebecca Schulman (Johns Hopkins University, United States) "Interchangeable Parts for In Vitro Transcriptional Networks"
8:05 pm - 8:15 pm	Discussion
8:15 pm - 8:35 pm	Friedrich Simmel (TU Munich, Germany) "Using Strand Displacement for Genetic Switching"
8:35 pm - 8:45 pm	Discussion
8:45 pm - 9:05 pm	Emanuela Torelli (Newcastle University, United Kingdom) "Towards in Vivo Nucleic Acid Self-Assembly"
9:05 pm - 9:15 pm	Discussion
9:15 pm - 9:25 pm	Grant Knappe (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States) "Functionalizing Nucleic Acid Nanoparticles for the Delivery of Nucleic Acid Therapeutics"
9:25 pm - 9:30 pm	Discussion
Friday
7:30 am - 8:30 am	Breakfast
9:00 am	Departure

Contributors

Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Cancer Institute and the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R13CA277856. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

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