T he Fall 2007 Newsletter is now available. This fall, we include a few related items: the powerpoint presentations from Tom Cech's Plenary Address, from Joan Steitz's Women in Science Dinner Presentation, and Walter Keller's talk at the Awards Ceremony. In addition, we are pleased to provide a podcasts of Joan's Steitz's talk. This year we are not able to provide podcasts of other talks due to poor quality recordings. Rest assured we are perfecting the audiovisual and documentation of the 'formal' talks at our annual meeting and expect to provide additional podcasts in the future. Enjoy this expanded newsletter!

I t is time for the RNA Society 2007 eBallot. It is time to vote. Just click here.

O pen Call for the Young Investigators Program: 30 European Scientists have established EURASNET, the European alternative splicing network. EURASNET is a Network of Excellence consortium within the 6th Framework Program (FP6), and integrates European research on alternative splicing. To promote new groups working on alternative splicing, EURASNET will include five Young Investigator Teams. They will have full access to EURASNET activities and a three-year research grant totaling 120,000€. Applicants should be within their first three years of independent research at the time of their application, hold a position in an institute eligible for FP6 funding, and be willing to contribute towards the Joint Program of Activities.

Deadline for applications: March 7, 2007

For information about EURASNET and how to apply, please direct your browser to the EURASNET website.

W e are pleased to release the Spring 2007 RNA Society Newsletter. We welcome your comments and contributions for the Fall 2007 newsletter. Please contact Brenda Peculis if you are interested in contributing an item to the newsletter.

W e wish to bring to your attention The RNA Society/Scaringe Scientist Award. Please note that we have extended the deadline to January 31st. This Award was established to recognize the achievement of young scientists engaged in RNA research and to encourage them to pursue a career in the field of RNA. The award is open to all junior scientists (graduate students or postdoctoral fellows) from all regions of the world who have made a significant contribution to the broad area of RNA. The award is not restricted to authors who have published in the RNA Journal. The prize will recognize one outstanding graduate student and one postdoctoral fellow based on their research accomplishments to date, a 1000-word essay describing their scientific contributions to RNA research, and a 500-word abstract for a review in their field of RNA research. Additional information about the judging criteria and the award can be found on the first page of the attached application form. The NEW deadline for submission is January 31st, 2007.

W e are pleased to announce that registration for the twelfth annual meeting of the RNA Society is now open. The meeting will be held May 29th-June 2nd at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Registration information can be obtained at the meeting web site.

New for 2007! This year, our meeting will begin in an exciting new fashion, with a plenary lecture given by Tom Cech. We will also initiate a "Women in Science RNA Society" Dinner. Joan Steitz will present the findings from a recent NRC report called "Beyond Barriers and Bias: Maximizing the Potential of Women in Academic Science and Engineering". All are welcome to attend these new events at the annual meeting.

See you in Madison!
The organizers: Sam Butcher, Erik Sontheimer, Rachel Green and Maria Carmo-Fonseca

T he preliminary site for the RNA 2007 meeting is available.

T he Nobel Prize web site includes video on demand footage of the announcements from Karolinska Institute and the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, background reading materials and telephone interviews with all the new Laureates recorded immediately after they were informed that they had been awarded the prize. The sites for the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry include additional details that may be of interest.

M embers can now update their RNA Society Directory information at their leisure and find colleagues who are members of the RNA Society. Visit the Directory and update your mailing addres and research interests today!

W e are pleased to announce the establishment of an Online Membership System to make it easier for you to become a member as well as renew your membership. Take a moment to read about the benefits of membership in the RNA Society and join today.

T he RNA Society would like to extend its congratulations to Dr. Andrew Fire and Dr. Craig Mello for winning the Nobel Prize in Physiology for the discovery of RNA interference - gene silencing by couble-stranded RNA. Their work laid the ground work for what is now an exciting and vibrant area of RNA research.

To read their paper, please see: Fire A., Xu S.Q., Montgomery M.K., Kostas S.A., Driver S.E., Mello C.C. Potent and specific genetic interference by double-stranded RNA in Caenorhabditis elegans. Nature 1998; 391:806-811.

Congratulations to Andy and Craig on their accomplishment. We look forward to hearing about many more exciting developments in RNAi from all of our members.

T he RNA Society is pleased to announce the release of its third newsletter. We hope that you will enjoy it !! Please remember that if you are interested in contributing an item to the newsletter, such as an opinion piece, historical perspective, career advice or any item you feel would be relevant to a member of the RNA Society, please contact Brenda Peculis.

T hank you for voting. You can have a look at the results here

W e are waiting for your vote here.

D oes the RNA Society need its own social bookmarking tool? Social bookmarking is a very useful web tool that is revolutionizing the way we manage research and teaching resources. The RNA Society opens its surveys page to know what you think.

T he RNA Society is pleased to announce the release of its second newsletter. We hope that you will enjoy it !! Please remember that if you are interested in contributing an item to the newsletter, such as an opinion piece, historical perspective, career advice or any item you feel would be relevant to a member of the RNA Society, please contact Brenda Peculis.

T he deadline for the 2006 award has now passed. Winners will be announced at RNA2006.

T he deadline for registration and abstract submission is Monday, March 20, 2006. For full details, registration, and abstract submission, visit this page.

N ew guidelines and the application form for the RNA Society/Scaringe award are now available on the Awards page. Deadline for application is January 30, 2006.

T he RNA Society is pleased to make its Employment and Careers web page available to the RNA community. Advertisements for employment opportunities are free to members of the RNA Society. All employment opportunities remain on this page for a three-month period. In addition, positions listed on this page are also published in the RNA Society newsletter (distributed to more than 1000 members and subscribers) as a free service and on a one-time basis..

T he RNA Society is pleased to announce the release of its first newsletter. We hope that you will enjoy it !! Please remember that if you are interested in contributing an item to the newsletter, such as an opinion piece, historical perspective, career advice or any item you feel would be relevant to a member of the RNA Society, please contact Brenda Peculis.