The meeting will take place at The Biopark, Hertfordshire, Welwyn Garden City.

The Meeting Chair will be Paul Bertone, European Bioinformatics Institute , Cambridge, UK

This event  has CPD accreditation and a  troubleshooting panel session.

On registration you will be able to submit your questions to the panel that will be asked by the chair on the day of the event

If you would like to view the agenda or book a place, please visit:www.regonline.co.uk/rna2010 

The Agenda includes:

Introduction by the Chair:  Paul Bertone, European Bioinformatics Institute , Cambridge, UK

Talk title to be confirmed

Dr Anna Git, Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute (CRI), Li Ka Shing Centre, Robinson Way, Cambridge, UK

Title to be confirmed

Dr Anton Enright, EMBL - European Bioinformatics Institute, Cambridge, UK

The complex life of small RNA

Dr Eric Miska, Gurdon Institute, Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute,The Henry Wellcome Building of Cancer and Developmental Biology,

Cambridge, UK

icroRNAs (miRNAs) are 22 nucleotide small RNAs that act as endogenous regulators of gene expression by base-pairing with target mRNAs. Here we analyse the function of the six members of the C. elegans miR-51 family of miRNAs (miR-51, miR-52, miR-53, miR-54, miR-55, miR-56). miR-51 family miRNAs are broadly expressed from mid-embryogenesis onwards. The miR-51 family is redundantly required for embryonic development. mir-51 family mutants display a highly penetrant pharynx unattached (Pun) phenotype, where the pharyngeal muscle, the food pump of C. elegans, is not attached to the mouth. Unusually, the Pun phenotype in mir-51 family mutants is not due to a failure to attach, but a failure to maintain attachment during late embryogenesis. Expression of the miR-51 family in the mouth is sufficient to maintain attachment. The Fat cadherin ortholog CDH-3 is expressed in the mouth, and is a direct target of the miR-51 family miRNAs. Genetic analysis reveals that miR-51 family miRNAs act in part through CDH-3 to regulate pharynx attachment. This study is the first to assign a function to the miR-51/miR-100 miRNA family in any organism.