Intellectual Merit: The Rustbelt RNA Meeting (RRM) is an annual meeting that gathers scientific researchers from the Midwestern United States to present and discuss new developments in RNA-related research with a particular focus on providing unique opportunities that advance the professional development of early-stage trainees. The 2013 RRM will be held in Cleveland, OH at the Marriott Hotel Downtown on Oct 18-19; this venue has been chosen based on its excellent meeting facilities and accessible location to researchers from the Midwest, including Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, New York, and surrounding areas. The annual RRM meeting provides an outstanding forum for communication of new developments in RNA-related research. Research presented at the RRM typically covers a broad spectrum of topics that reflects the highly interdisciplinary nature of the RNA field. In recent years, emerging technologies have facilitated the acquisition of large-scale RNA sequence data, enabling identification and assessment of entire transcriptomes while revealing previously unknown classes of RNAs. Moreover, advances in cell imaging, biophysical and computational tools allow researchers to address new questions about functions and mechanisms associated with biological RNAs. The 2013 meeting program will feature a full schedule of poster and oral presentations by predominantly student and post-doctoral trainees, and a keynote lecture by Nobel laureate Dr. Tom Cech (University of Colorado Boulder).
Broader Impacts: The RRM provides unique opportunities for career development of undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral trainees. One important charge of the RRM is to feature oral and poster presentations by students and junior researchers; indeed, trainees are allocated >90% of the oral presentations, and a lengthy and historically well-attended poster session highlights the research of remaining trainees who cannot be assigned a platform presentation. Importantly, in the process of determining winners of several presentation awards, all trainee presentations are judged by faculty volunteers for both scientific merit and presentation effectiveness, thus ensuring that valuable feedback is provided to each participant. To promote broad and inclusive attendance, the 2013 RRM will introduce two Travel Scholarship Awards for URM trainee registrants selected based on outstanding scientific merit. The RRM serves to expose trainees (often for the first time) to a meeting atmosphere that resembles that of a large national meeting in terms of the quality and quantity of research presented, but with the benefit of a more intimate and personalized experience that not only provides the opportunity to advance their scientific knowledge, but also promotes interaction, collegiality, and the development of new collaborations.
This conference award was used to support the 2013 Rustbelt RNA Meeting (RRM), held at the Marriott Hotel and Convention Center in downtown Cleveland, Ohio on October 18th and 19th, 2013. This year's RRM marked the 15th anniversary of the establishment of this annual meeting that draws RNA researchers from across the Midwest together to present and discuss new developments in RNA-related research. The 2013 RRM was attended by the largest number of participants to date; the 297 scientific registrants included 187 graduate student and postdoctoral trainees, 23 undergraduate students, and 72 PIs from 30 different academic institutions throughout the Midwest. NSF funds were used to support the travel and lodging costs for the postdoctoral, graduate and undergraduate trainees, providing the opportunity for these participants to both present the results of their own research in the RNA field, as well as to interact and form new connections with scientists working in all aspects of RNA biology and chemistry. The meeting was organized by co-Chairs Kristian Baker (Case Western Reserve University) and Jane Jackman (Ohio State University) and co-Vice Chairs Philip Bevilacqua (Pennsylvania State University) and Kausik Chakrabarti (Carnegie Mellon University). A hallmark of the RRM is its focus on trainee research and career development. Accordingly, the meeting highlighted 24 oral presentations by graduate and post-doctoral trainees, with 2 presentations made by junior investigators new to the local RNA community (Seth Kelly of Wooster College and Thomas Leeper from the University of Akron). An evening poster session highlighted the work of 146 trainees. Presentations on Friday were capped off by a keynote lecture, "Long ncRNAs and their protein partners: Marching toward mechanism", presented by our distinguished guest, Dr. Tom Cech (HHMI, University of Colorado Boulder).
