News Archive

DNA’s sister molecule in the focus

25 May 2011. A new Collaborative Research Center named “Molecular Mechanisms of RNA based regulation” will be established at Goethe University. The center will be running from 1st of July with funds of € 9 M granted for four years. It crosses the frontiers between chemistry and life sciences and focuses on RNA, the sister molecule of DNA which has long been underestimated. Scientists at Goethe University have been involved for some years in deciphering the functional role of RNA in chemical and biological processes. For a long time RNA was only seen as a passive messenger of genetic information. Today it is known that RNA also plays a pivotal role in gene regulation and as component of large protein complexes. These macromolecular complexes form specific three dimensional conformations to exert their function, and the newly established Center will tackle the question how structure and dynamic of RNA relates to its biological functions.

 

Contact
Harald Schwalbe
Goethe University
Institute for Organic Chemistry and Chemical Biology
Max-von-Laue-Strasse 7
60438 Frankfurt am Main, Germany