Cells must prevent incompletely spliced transcripts from entering the cytoplasm, yet how splicing status is recognized and converted into selective nuclear retention remains unclear. Here, we identify...

This book explores the enduring and emerging questions in developmental biology, offering a comprehensive overview that bridges traditional concepts with the innovative inquiries shaping future resear...

Braun et al. identify that the canonical host mRNA deadenylation complex and an RNA-binding specificity factor, TTP, post-transcriptionally control antiviral interferon mRNAs through targeted deadenylation. Loss of mRNA decay machinery leads to a potent block against SARS-CoV-2 infection and can prime cells for innate immune memory.

Please refer to the How to Apply for a Job (for External Candidates) job aid for instructions on how to apply. If you are an active McGill employee (ie: currently in an active contract or position at ...

Andrews and Bass develop dsRNAscan to predict millions of double-stranded RNA structures across the human genome. ADAR editing and structure-probing data classify ∼2.4 million predictions as high-confidence, enabling prediction of intermolecular dsRNAs, conserved dsRNAs, and quantification of dsRNA burden as a correlate of cell death after ADAR knockout.

Using dynamic SILAC proteomics, Matsuda et al. show that protein degradation is globally slower in human than in mouse segmentation clock cells. Glycolysis inhibition in mouse partially phenocopies the human protein stability profile, linking metabolism, protein stability, and developmental tempo.

Longitudinal multi-omics in SOD1-ALS mice identifies a disease-associated motor neuron (DM) state transition driven by transcription factor networks. Features of this state are conserved in human ALS ...

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, Published online: 30 July 2026; doi:10.1038/s41580-026-00991-zRecent evidence reveals how gene expression complexes form transient assemblies that continually exchange their subunits under kinetic control. This Perspective proposes that these dynamics form the basis of RNA processing and gene regulation.

Leukemia - Cancer is an RNA disease: DNA is not destiny, RNA determines leukemia fate

Highlighted Article: Comparison of the patterning capacity of Drosophila embryos that have only one of the three maternal gradients known to control anterior posterior patterning.

Mobile genetic elements and their hosts engage in continuous evolutionary conflict. Marino et al. recently uncovered an unusual anti-CRISPR mechanism: the phage protein AcrVA2 triggers translation-coupled mRNA degradation by recognizing nascent Cas12. The findings suggest that nascent peptides may signal an underappreciated layer of gene regulation across the kingdoms of life.

Nature Reviews Genetics, Published online: 08 June 2026; doi:10.1038/s41576-026-00985-9In this Tools of the Trade article, Dmitry Kretov and Daniel Cifuentes describe RBPscan (RNA-binding protein specificity and contextual analysis via nucleotide editing), a method that measures the strength of in vivo interactions between RNA binding proteins and their RNA targets.

Highly conserved mRNA 3′ UTRs act as co-translational chaperones for intrinsically disordered regions (IDRs), preventing inter-domain misfolding and enabling biogenesis of fully active proteins.

Maintaining the germline fate requires tight post-transcriptional control of RNA function. Here, we investigate how primordial germ cell (PGC) identity is maintained in zebrafish and reveal that the c...

In this Essay, the evolution of life is construed as a ribosomal takeover, whereby the ribosome evolved to consume most of the cell’s resources, while other cellular componentry ensured the…

Nature Protocols - This Protocol describes the transcriptome-wide labeling of RNAs in a particular subcellular compartment using proximity biotinylation by localized APEX2 enzyme and subsequent...

Nature - Repeated cloning from a single mouse failed after 58 generations. Researchers say harmful DNA changes are to blame.

Synonymous codon usage controls global gene expression in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic species. Nonoptimal codons are known to induce mRNA decay; however, the underlying molecular mechanism remains...

Gene expression patterns underlie development, but their systematic detection in whole embryos has remained elusive. We introduce a whole-embryo imaging platform using multiplexed error-robust fluores...

Assistant Professor - Zebrafish Models of Genetic and Metabolic Pathologies

LARP6 is an EMT-associated RNA-binding protein with diverse RNA targets. Here, the authors show that the N-terminal disordered region of LARP6 promotes RNA-binding selectivity by modulating the adjace...

Abou Karam et al. identify a cell communication mechanism used by the malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum. The parasite delivers its mRNAs into monocytes and imports them into their protected nucle...

Nature Reviews Genetics, Published online: 16 February 2026; doi:10.1038/s41576-026-00931-9Empirical and artificial intelligence-based approaches are redefining how RNA-dependent protein assemblies are mapped, modelled and targeted, revealing their dynamic roles in health and disease and outlining closed-loop strategies for predictive functional RNA and ribonucleoprotein design.

RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) constitute a diverse class of proteins essential for every stage of the gene expression process. Many RBPs are also linked to human diseases and pathologies. Understandi...

Transcriptional adaptation (TA) is a genetic robustness mechanism through which mutant messenger RNA (mRNA) decay induces sequence-dependent up-regulation of so-called adapting genes. How cytoplasmica...

The emergence of a chemical system capable of self-replication and evolution is a critical event in the origin of life. RNA polymerase ribozymes can replicate RNA, but their large size and structural ...

Kretov et al. introduce RBPscan, an RNA-editing-based platform that measures how RNA-binding proteins engage their targets in living cells. This approach quantifies the binding strength of protein-RNA...

Lawrence et al. examine how ribosome production in the eukaryotic nucleolus is coordinated by cytoplasmic processes to maintain appropriate ribosome numbers. The authors highlight regulatory inputs from cytoplasmic signaling, mitosis, and cytoplasmic organelles that converge on nucleolar function, and they discuss how disruption of these pathways contributes to human disease.