5th Conference on Biomotors, Virus Assembly, and RNA Nanobiotechnology - RNA has recently gained widespread interest in the therapeutic field and is now actively being involved in research is now realized as the third milestone in therapeutics, following chemical and protein drugs; with a recent major increase in interest for gene therapy, vaccine development, and novel immuno-stimulations across many disease models. The goal of this R13 application is to request partial funding support for the upcoming 5th Biennial Conference on Biomotors, Virus Assembly, and RNA Nanobiotechnology, scheduled to be held December, 2025 in Rosemead, CA and expand this conference to focus on RNA therapeutics/mRNA vaccines. This meeting will be chaired by Peixuan Guo, who pioneered the field of RNA Nanotechnology. The conference will be co-chaired by Kirill Afonin, Sarah Woodson, Eric Westhof, and Karin Musier-Forsyth, all having extensive expertise in RNA structure, RNA biology, and RNA therapeutics. The conference will build upon its foundation of the previous four iterations and conferences founded by PI Guo dating back to 2010 to expand crossdisciplinary approaches heavily involved in RNA research at the fundamental and application level. Close interaction of attendees across multiple disciplines will be promoted to advance RNA therapeutic research. This conference is geared towards hosting multidisciplinary approaches to discuss the applications of mRNA, novel RNA molecules as therapeutics, and RNA nanoparticles for early disease diagnosis, non-invasive imaging to monitor the progression of diseases, and targeting and treatment of a wide range of diseases from cancer, bacterial, to viral infections. The specific aim of this conference is to provide a forum for advancing these rapidly growing fields grouped together as RNA therapeutics from discovery to clinical evaluations. Accordingly, researchers from public and private sectors will be invited to: (1) share existing knowledge and set future research initiatives in the field; (2) foster collaborations between physical/engineering scientists with life sciences researchers, and basic science with clinical investigators; and (3) promote the participation of early career scientists for close interaction with advanced career scientists. The meeting will cover a range of topics, including biophysical and single molecule approaches for characterization of RNA nanostructures; structural and functional studies on RNA nanoparticles by chemical or biochemical approaches; computation, prediction, modeling, and understanding dynamics and motion of RNA structures; RNA processing and regulation; design and advances of mRNA therapeutics, mRNA viral vaccines, and mRNA cancer vaccines; application of RNA nanoparticles in therapeutics for the treatment of diseases; and RNA involved in viral assembly and biomotors. The invited speakers and discussion leaders for this conference will include a mix of world-renowned researchers in the field as well as exceptional junior-level investigators from around the world. The meeting will be advertised to a diverse audience ranging from world-renowned experts to early career (trainees and postdocs) in a highly integrated format to facilitate interactions.
