RNA + You

flashMOOC: RNA – The Future of Medicine

The genetic disorder discussed in this video was considered incurable and fatal for a long time. Particularly affected were children, whose muscles atrophied as the disease progressed. But scientist came up with a revolutionary therapy: A synthetic RNA molecule helps children to regain control over their muscles.

Learn the basics of RNA metabolism in this flashMOOC and find out how an antisense oligonucleotide can be used to prevent the devastating hereditary disease SMA.

Expert

Oliver Mühlemann is professor of biochemistry at the University of Bern and the director of the Swiss National Science Foundation National Center of Competence in Research (SNSF-NCCR) "RNA & Disease". He co-initiated the “Elucidation of Selective Motor Neuron Death in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)” project and is co-leading the project "Structure and Function of the Human Ribonucleosome". 

Mühlemann’s research interests include understanding posttranscriptional mechanisms of gene expression in mammalian cells. Early in his career, he performed pioneering investigations into the roles of SR proteins in the regulation of splicing. More recently, his laboratory has become internationally recognized for its work on elucidating the mechanism of nonsense-mediated mRNA decay (NMD) and its biological roles in gene regulation.  

Licence

“RNA – The Future of Medicine” by University of Bern (Authors: Oliver Mühlemann, Jonathan Stauffer, Lydia Rufer, Janis Schertenleib, Veronika Herzog, Dominik Theler) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International CC BY License.

Links: University of Bern, NCCR RNA & Disease

 

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