RiboWest

RiboWest2011 in Prince George

RiboWest 2011 Agenda

Group picture

Keynote speaker
Peter Sarnow
Invited speaker
Benoit Chabot

RiboWest 2011 took place at UNBC's Prince George campus on July 18 and 19. Peter Sarnow of Stanford University was the keynote speaker, and Benoit Chabot of the University of Sherbrooke was the Sherbrooke Invited Guest. This year's RiboWest had the largest attendance ever at UNBC, with 100 participants from as far afield as Ontario and Oregon. Topics highlighted at the meeting included microRNAs, the ribosome, RNA splicing, RNA modification, and RNA degradation, among others. Another special feature was a session on industry-academic collaboration, which featured talks from industry and academia on topics of potential commercial interest, as well as small group discussions on how to promote collaborations. This year's conference organizers were Stephen Rader and Andrea Gorrell of UNBC, and the meeting was supported by CIHR and NSERC, as well as a number of generous industry sponsors. More information, including dates for next year's meeting, can be found at: RiboWest 2012
The organizers are grateful to the RNA Society for providing funding for talk and poster prizes. The prizes were awarded as follows:

• Best Talk ($250):
  Sorana Morrisy (Marra Lab) BC Cancer Agency Genome Sciences Centre Extensive relationship between antisense transcription and alternative splicing in the human genome

• Second Place Talk ($150):
  Kirsten Rosler (Wieden Lab) University of Lethbridge Using a combined in vitro and in silico approach to identify the catalytic residue in the universally conserved NTPase, YchF

• Third Place Talk ($100):
  Qian Ren (Jan Lab) University of British Columbia Alternative reading frame selection mediated by a viral tRNA-like internal ribosome entry site

• Best Graduate Poster ($150):
  Roshani Payoe (Fahlman Lab) University of Alberta Single Point Mutation in ACT-domain Affects Binding and Stimulation of Stringent Reponse Factor RelA on Ribosomes

• Best Undergraduate Student Poster ($150):
  Lisza Bruder (Mosimann Lab) University of Lethbridge Crystal Structure of PhyA (Mitsoukella multacida) in Complex with Myo-Inositol Hexakisphosphate

• 3rd Place Poster Prizes ($50 each):
  Ashley Moore (Russell Lab) University of Lethbridge Characterization of small nucleolar RNA genes in the protist E. gracilis

  Reem Skeik (Owttrim Lab) University of Alberta Self-Dimerization Analysis of CrhR DEAD-Box RNA Helicase

  Michael Ungerer (Unrau Lab) Simon Fraser University In Vitro Selection of Novel RNase P Cleavage Sites