Please join us for exciting presentations from:

Eva Momchilova

PhD Candidate, Audas Lab, Simon Fraser University

Presentation Title: Regulation of Stress-Induced Transcription of Amyloidogenic Non-Coding RNA

Eva Momchilova is a PhD candidate in the Audas Lab at Simon Fraser University. She completed her Bachelor of Science at SFU, majoring in Molecular Biology & Biochemistry and Chemistry. Her research focuses on the transcriptional regulation of non-coding RNA during cellular stress and its impact on nucleolar structure and function.

Join us to learn about her insights into stress-induced transcription and its implications for cellular biology.

Kristen Kong

Research Technician, UBC RNA Formulation Core

Presentation Title: Best Practices in RNA Manufacturing and QC: Insights from the UBC RNA Formulation Core

Kristen Kong is a research technician at the UBC RNA Formulation Core, where she supports RNA production to enhance accessibility for researchers in both academic and industrial settings. She completed her Master's degree in 2023 at Simon Fraser University under the supervision of Dr. Peter Unrau, focusing on the development and application of two-colour fluorescent RNA aptamers. Her work earned her an NSERC graduate award and the inaugural RNA Journal Prize. Currently, under Dr. Andrew Varley, Kristen performs flexible, multi-modality RNA manufacturing and has contributed to key quality control developments, such as double-stranded RNA assays within the core facility.

Discover best practices in RNA manufacturing and quality control from her experience at the UBC RNA Formulation Core.

Dr. Carolyn Brown

Presentation Title: XIST: Spreading silence by RNA

Bio: Carolyn is a Canadian, originally from Ontario where she did undergraduate studies at the University of Guelph and her Ph.D. at the University of Toronto. She completed studies for her Ph.D. at Stanford University after her thesis advisor Dr. Huntington Willard moved there. Combining a study of genes that escape from X-chromosome inactivation and the X-inactivation center, a region of the X required for silencing, they discovered XIST in 1990. She completed postdoctoral studies with the same lab, but in yet another place - Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland Ohio, before returning to Canada for a faculty position in 1994.  Thirty years later, her group is still studying XIST and genes that escape X inactivation in order to understand epigenetic silencing.

Dr. Tanya Murtha

We’re excited to announce a sponsor talk at this month’s Vancouver RNA Club event, titled “Solutions to RNA-Seq”, presented by Dr. Tanya Murtha, Senior Scientist at Lexogen. Dr. Murtha will share insights into optimizing RNA-Seq workflows and solutions to common challenges in transcriptomics research.