COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY CONFERENCE EUKARYOTIC mRNA PROCESSING AUGUST 20 - 24, 2019 ABSTRACT The proposed conference on “Eukaryotic mRNA Processing” will convene scientists studying various aspects of mRNA processing, transport, turnover and bioinformatics. Major advances have recently been made in all these areas, and the proposed conference will be a timely event for discussing the latest unpublished results and exchanging ideas, thereby fostering new developments in this rapidly moving field. The proposed conference will be the twelfth meeting in the series that is held every other year at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory. The most recent meeting was held in August 2017 and attracted 329 scientists internationally, who are actively investigating various aspects of messenger RNA maturation in eukaryotic cells using genetic, biochemical, molecular, and cell biological approaches. As in the previous meetings, a major focus will be on nuclear events in mRNA maturation, including mRNA splicing and polyadenylation, the connections between transcription and mRNA maturation steps, small RNA biogenesis and function, the application of informatics and genome-wide approaches to the analysis of RNA processing, as well as the relevance of mRNA processing to the etiology of cancer and other diseases. We propose eight plenary sessions and two poster sessions. Each plenary session will be subdivided into two parts (separated by a coffee break) that focus on related but separate topics. In response to major developments in the fields of RNA modification and the roles of RNA structure in processing, we have expanded the sessions devoted to these topics; this adaptability to the major movements in the field helps keep this meeting at the cutting edge and ensures that we will draw participants from traditional as well as emerging areas of RNA research. This subdivision, successfully piloted at the 2011 meeting, allows a broader representation of fields and we have recruited a diverse set of leaders in the field as session chairs. As always, all speakers will be selected on the basis of the submitted abstracts, which encourages active participation by junior scientists. We will particularly encourage presentation of unpublished work by the students and postdoctoral fellows who are leading these projects, as has traditionally been a hallmark and a unique strength of the Cold Spring Harbor meetings.

COLD SPRING HARBOR LABORATORY CONFERENCE EUKARYOTIC mRNA PROCESSING AUGUST 20 - 24, 2019 LAY NARRATIVE In genes of higher organisms from yeast to man, the information encoded in the DNA sequence is interrupted by non-coding regions called introns. An RNA copy of the gene has to be read off, cut and then spliced back together to remove the introns and produce a continuous "message" with the correct information to produce a protein. In many cases, the message can be cut and put back together in different combinations giving rise to proteins with different functions. This means that the number of different proteins in a cell can be much greater than the number of different genes. The ends of the message, as well as the location and use of the message can also be regulated; allowing for further control of protein identity and abundance. Mistakes in all these steps of RNA processing is increasingly seen as a contributing cause of cancer, neurological diseases and other disorders, as defective RNAs and proteins are produced leading to dysregulated cellular growth and function. Moreover, numerous proteins involved in RNA processing have oncogenic properties and have recently been shown to drive cancer syndromes. This conference brings together many scientists studying how messenger RNA processing occurs and how it is controlled to discuss their latest results, identify common interests and share methodologies. A key to the success of the conference is that the majority of oral presentations are given by graduate students, postdoctoral fellows and junior faculty; they are chosen on the basis of scientific novelty and merit, ensuring that the conference showcases the latest, unpublished developments. Participants come from academic centers, research institutes and industrial centers around the world. Importantly, this application requests support for junior scientists who might not otherwise be able to attend to actively participate in the meeting.