RNA Localization and Local Translation - SUMMARY Recent revolutionary advances in RNA-based therapies have been made possible due to decades of research on basic mechanisms of RNA regulation. An untapped level of RNA control with wide-ranging clinical relevance relates to targeting of mRNAs to subcellular compartments and local mRNA translation. Indeed, such mechanisms play a major role in controlling protein expression and function from unicellular organisms to humans. By favoring on-site and on-demand protein production, they contribute to numerous cellular, neurobiological, and developmental processes including the generation of cellular asymmetry, synapse growth and plasticity, axon pathfinding, and patterning and differentiation in embryos. Highly polarized and long-lived neuronal cells are particularly reliant on this mechanisms and defects in RNA transport and translational regulation are increasingly associated with neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disease. The FASEB Science Research Conference on RNA Localization and Local Translation is the premier international meeting dedicated to this promising branch of RNA biology and it has been key to the continuous development of the field. Importantly, this conference provides a unique venue for bringing together investigators who share interests in RNA transport, translation, stability and decay, but use a complementary experimental systems and approaches to understand how cells harness RNA regulation to achieve tight spatial and temporal control of protein expression. Other RNA-focused conferences are typically large, which limits interactions, and offer only a handful of talks on RNA regulation in cellular systems. The overarching goal here is to promote interactions among scientists at different career stages and from different backgrounds in order to identify key challenges in the field, generate new ideas and technologies, and foster collaborations that will drive the field forward. Participation in conferences by early-career scientists and trainees is crucial to their network establishment and future career opportunities as well as to innovation and growth of the field. In this proposal, we request funds to support these groups, with an emphasis on individuals from underrepresented communities, to attend the 2024 FASEB conference on RNA Localization and Local Translation. A draft program has been outlined around a small number of speakers and session chairs, who have enthusiastically accepted our invitation. Apart from those, the majority of talks will be allocated to speakers who will be selected from submitted abstracts, to promote participation by newly minted PIs, post-doctoral fellows, and students – groups that include higher numbers of underrepresented researchers. Informal interaction between more senior members of the field and junior scientists and trainees will be also facilitated by planned events including an ‘Outstanding Questions’ workshop, ‘Meet-the-experts’ sessions, and ‘Career Development’ roundtable discussions. The mix of attendees will further participate to the conference goals to spawn collaborations and stimulate innovative research on the biology of RNA localization and local translation.
