The RNA Processing Meeting provides an annual forum for researchers to share recent findings about RNA splicing and other RNA processing reactions, RNA catalysis, structure-function relationships in RNA and RNA-protein complexes, and regulation at the level of alternative RNA processing. The meetings have attracted an extraordinarily broad spectrum of scientists, including biochemists, molecular biologists and chemists. A continuation of these meetings is proposed for 1988-1990. Speakers will be chosen from the abstracts submitted. Poster sessions will provide all conferees with an opportunity to present their work, and will not be limited. Past meetings have shown that the face- to-face contact engendered by this format enhances the quality and rate of progress in this field, promotes collaborative interactions, and ensures that the most up-to-date methods for analysis of RNA are communicated promptly. The problems to be clarified by the Cold Spring Harbor RNA Processing Meeting include the pathway of assembly of the large complexes in which nuclear mRNA splicing takes place; the roles of individual small nuclear RNPs in splicing and other processing reactions; the mechanisms of trans-splicing; and the role of RNA catalysis in a variety of steps in the maturation of tRNA, rRNA and mRNA.
