Welcome to the Tenth Annual Meeting of the RNA Society between May 24 - 29 2005. RNA 2005 will take place in Banff, up in the Canadian Rockies in the Banff National Park.

RNA 2005 will comprise oral and poster presentations covering the entire field of RNA including its structure, chemistry and biology. This will include splicing and its regulation, translation, RNA folding, RNA decay, protein interactions and catalysis, RNAi and noncoding RNAs, RNA stability, RNA transport and bioinformatics. As ever, the meeting will involve the membership of the society as much as possible, with all presentations being selected from submitted abstracts, and additional workshops being arranged as required.

Please join over 700 devotees of RNA research in Banff in May. Register and submit your abstracts using the links on subsequent pages. The deadline for both is February 21, 2005.We look forward to welcoming you to RNA 2005.

David Lilley (University of Dundee)
Timothy Nilsen (Case Western Reserve University)
Marina Rodnina (University of Witten/Herdecke)
Sandra Wolin (Yale University)

• Topics
• Session coordinators
• Meeting site
• Conference schedule
• Registration information & accomodation
• Abstract information & submission
• Transportation information
• Oral presentation abstracts
• Poster presentation abstracts
• Email and Wireless Network Access Locations
• Meeting sponsors
• RNA 2005 Awards

• RNA catalysis
• RNP function and dynamics
• Translation and its regulation
• Splicing mechanisms
• Splicing regulation
• RNA transport and localization
• RNA editing and modification
• tRNA, snoRNA and rRNA
• RNA folding and structure
• RNAi and noncoding RNA
• RNA decay
• 3'-end formation

• Ronald Breaker (Yale)
• Jean Beggs (Edinburgh University)
• Rachel Green (Johns Hopkins)
• Erik Sontheimer (Northwestern University)
• Brenton Gravely (University of Connecticut)
• Elisa Izaurralde (EMBL)
• Jonatha Gott (Case Western University)
• Guillaume Chanfreau (UCLA)
• Sarah Woodson (Johns Hopkins)
• David Bartel (MIT)
• Lynne Maquat (University of Rochester)
• Chris Burge (MIT)

Banff, Alberta, Canada - RNA 2005 will be hosted in Banff, Alberta, Canada, a small town located along the Bow River in the Canadian Rockies and Banff National Park. Banff National Park, a world heritage site, is Canada's oldest National Park and consists of 2,500 square miles of snow capped mountains, towering trees, crystal lakes and streams, glaciers and wildlife in a natural habitat. The town of Banff has shops, art galleries, museums and a wide choice of restaurants, lounges and entertainment.

The Banff Centre for Conferences is located in the town of Banff at a comfortable elevation of 4200 feet, within a 2 hour drive west from Calgary, Alberta, yet it is surrounded by mountain peaks. For more information about Banff and the surrounding areas, go to www.banfflakelouise.com The Banff Centre for Conferences is one of the four divisions of The Banff Centre for Continuing Education. The Banff Centre for Continuing Education is a unique institution playing a special role in the advancement of Canadian cultural and professional life. It is known world wide for its advanced training in the Arts and Management, and for hosting a wide range of educational conferences.

In spring, Banff has a cool, dry climate. The area is at an altitude of 1476 metres(4,800 feet) and is subject to sudden changes in temperatures and conditions. People arriving in Banff for RNA 2001 may have been taken aback on being greeted by snow flurries ! It is suggested that you bring sweaters and/or jackets as it can be quite cool in the morning and evenings, while the afternoon can warm up considerably. For lots of visitor information, go to http://www.banffcentre.ca/Conferences/visitor/

All participants must register with the Banff Centre for Conferences. The registration process includes reservation of your accommodation at the Banff Centre. Registration may be completed by visiting the website below. Please note that if the meeting is full (probable) some participants may be accommodated off-site.

Registration deadline is February 21, 2005

Register here : http://www.banffcentre.ca/r/rna2005.asp

Abstract submission deadline is February 21, 2005

Please note that space is limited to about 750 participants in Banff. If the number of applications exceeds the space available, the Organizers will use Society membership, abstract submission, and numbers attending from the same laboratory as criteria for selection of applications. Abstracts must be submitted on-line. To submit an abstract, you must first register at the Banff Centre : http://www.banffcentre.ca/r/rna2005.asp. This will then allow you to go through to the abstract submission web page, or give you the URL to do this at a later date. The length limit for abstracts is 2500 characters (letters and spaces). This limit is for the entire abstract, including title, authors, institutions, abstract text, and footnotes. The RNA 2005 abstract book will be distributed at the meeting; it will not be mailed to participants.

By Plane

Calgary International Aiport is the gateway to the Canadian Rockies and is located ~1.5 hours from Banff. Airlines serving Calgary International include United, American, Northwest, Delta, and Continental. For a full listing of the airlines as well as additional information about air travel to Calgary, please see the airport web site

Shuttle Service Between Calgary Airport and Banff

A charter service has been arranged for RNA delegates and their guests arriving on Tuesday May 24th and departing on Sunday May 29th. Transfer time is 2 hours, round-trip fare is $70.00 which includes 7% tax. Please to make your arrangements for this service with Road West The deadline for these travel arrangements is April 24, 2005.

Additional travel information including driving directions to Banff can be found at here.

For more visitor information, please see http://www.banffcentre.ca/Conferences/visitor/

Each presentation room will be equipped with both a Macintosh and PC computer with standard presentation (PowerPoint) software as well as overhead projectors. Projection of traditional 35mm slides will not be available.

Each speaker will be required to download the presentation onto the Mac or PC in the room. Please bring your presentation on a memory stick CD-R, or CD-RW to facilitate transfer of the talk onto the computers. You will NOT be able to plug in your own computer and use it for your presentation.

The version of PowerPoint used to save the file is important. The highest quality projection will occur with files saved in PowerPoint 2000 format for PC's and use Mac OS9 or Mac OSX operating systems for Macs. Older versions of PowerPoint might result in lower quality images of reduced size.

All presenters should arrive 45 minutes before the start of the morning session if you are presenting that morning. For those presenting in the afternoon sessions and workshops, please arrive 45 minutes prior to the start of the first afternoon session. This will allow sufficient time to transfer and check the talk as well as provide the technician time to resolve any issues with a talk. The location of all talks will be listed in the abstract book.

Poster size is 4 feet (1.3 meters) high x 4 feet (1.3 meters) wide. Due to the large number of posters and the limited display space, we cannot accommodate larger posters so please adhere to these limits.

The location for all posters will be noted in the abstract book. Setup and takedown times will be announced during the meeting. Pushpins will be provided.

Three computers will be available for checking your email. Their location will be noted at the registration desk. Guests can also obtain access to the Internet if they have a wireless network card in their laptop.

The following locations offer FREE internet access for browsing and email:

• Kiln
• Library
• JPL
• Glyde Hall
• Professional Development Center main lobby
• Max Bell (browsing & email only)

Wireless access can NOT be provided in the following locations:

• Lloyd Hall (except for Library and Bourgeau Lounge)
• Farrally Hall