It’s time for our first RNA Salon of 2021!  Next Wednesday (12 May) we will be treated to 2 exciting seminars that cover both fundamental and clinical research.  
Our first speaker will be Dr. Vihandha Wickramasinghe, who will speak about Nuclear export of circular RNA.  Dr. Wickramasinghe is Head of the RNA Biology and Cancer Laboratory at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia.  His research interests lie in understanding the molecular basis of how RNA is selectively processed and exported from the nucleus into the cytoplasm and how deregulation of these processes contributes to human cancer.  During his post-doctoral studies at the MRC Cancer Unit in Cambridge, he demonstrated for the first time that selective mRNA export from the nucleus can regulate a fundamental biological process, namely DNA repair.  His lab now aims to characterise novel mechanisms of regulating gene expression via selective mRNA processing and to use these insights to identify potential new therapeutic targets for the treatment of cancer.
Our second speaker will be Associate Prof. Mark Cowley, who will speak about Using RNA-seq for Precision Medicine in children with high-risk cancers.  Dr. Cowley is Head of the Computational Biology Group at the Children’s Cancer Institute and co-Head of the ACRF Childhood Cancer Liquid Biopsy program.  His work focuses on childhood cancer, which remains the leading cause of disease-related death in Australia with ~1000 new diagnoses per annum.  In Australia, the Children’s Cancer Institute and the Kid’s Cancer Centre are leading the national ZERO Childhood Cancer program, which since 2015 has recruited >450 patients aged mostly 0-21, with high-risk or rare cancers.  ZERO uses deep whole genome (WGS) and transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq), and methylome profiling in real-time to provide targeted treatment recommendations for patients.  Using a combination of these molecular profiling platforms, his team has identified a treatment target in over 70% of patients, with 71% of patients who received the recommended treatment showing a clinical benefit, including 11% with a complete pathological response.  In this presentation, Dr. Cowley will focus on using RNAseq for mutation detection (beyond fusions) and resolving atypical splice altering variation in the prospective analysis of a national-scale precision medicine program.

Zoom Details:Topic: Sydney RNA Salon
Time: May 12, 2021 03:30 PM Canberra, Melbourne, Sydney

Join Zoom Meeting
https://garvan.zoom.us/j/88982646341?pwd=MUxLYjc2aXJtcFFES0YyamkxSWd6dz09
Meeting ID: 889 8264 6341
Passcode: 981951

Looking forward to seeing you all next Wednesday!The Sydney RNA Salon Organising Committee