The EMBO Meeting 2012

Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Yeshiva University

Following Single mRNAs from Birth to Death in Living Cells

Live cell imaging has been instrumental in analyzing the dynamic properties of RNA. New technologies in optical microscopy and fluorescent probe development have been pushing the envelope of our analysis capabilities. We have been dedicated to developing and implementing these technologies to further the understanding of single mRNA dynamics in cells and organisms. We have utilized computational approaches to analyze real-time transcription activities of endogenous genes from yeast to human cells. We have employed a plethora of imaging methods, ranging from confocal and multiphoton microscopy, long-term cell imaging, high-speed real-time widefield microscopy, single molecule tracking, and we have developed super-registration microscopy and fluorescence fluctuation analysis. We have investigated key processes of RNA synthesis: initiation, elongation, termination, as well as nuclear pore export, cytoplasmic trafficking, localization and decay. Mathematical modeling allowed us to extract quantitative kinetic parameters that precisely describe these processes in living cells.

Supported by NIH GMS Grants to RH Singer

Biography

Dr. Robert H. Singer received his undergraduate degree in physical chemistry from Oberlin College and his Ph.D. in developmental biology from Brandeis University. He then did postdoctoral work in molecular biology at MIT and the Weizmann Institute in Israel. His career has been focused on the cell biology of RNA, its isolation, detection, expression and translation. A patented in situ hybridization technique his lab developed for detecting RNA in morphologically preserved cells revealed that messenger RNA can localize in specific cellular compartments. This work has given rise to the field of RNA transport and localization, enhanced by Dr. Singer's and his colleagues' development of imaging technology and RNA reporters. His lab has shown that the dynamics of RNA transcription can also be interrogated by live cell imaging, as well as by multiplexed fluorescent probes. In addition, Dr. Singer's laboratory has been instrumental in developing rapid and sensitive microscopy that can study single molecules of RNA in living cells and in devising methods to track them from their site of synthesis to the sites of their function. This technology has implications for understanding of the role of RNA in disease such as cancer metastasis and mental retardation. He holds 12 patents on his work.

Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology, University of Edinburgh

Abstract & Title - to follow soon

Biography - to follow soon

Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology

Abstract & Title- to follow soon

Biography

Dr Elisa Izaurralde was born in Montevideo, Uruguay. She earned her PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Geneva in 1989, and worked as a postdoctoral fellow and then as a group leader at the EMBL in Heidelberg. She joined the Max Planck Society as a Scientific Director, Department of Biochemistry, Max Planck Institute for Developmental Biology, Tübingen, Germany in October 2000. Dr. Elisa Izaurralde is distinguished for her contributions to the understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying post-transcriptional gene regulation. In particular, she focuses on three specific aspects of this regulation: mRNA quality control, mRNA degradation and miRNA-mediated silencing. Dr Elisa Izaurralde was elected member of EMBO in 2000. She is a recipient of the Friedrich Miescher Award of the Swiss Society for Biochemistry, of the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize of the German Research Foundation and of the Ernst Jung Prize for Medicine of the Jung Foundation for Science and Research.