August 14, 2024 This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies . Editors have highlightedthe following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: fact-checked trusted source proofread by Brown University RNA hit prime time during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the average American waiting in line for their shot knew that the vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna were made using mRNA. But while RNA has since become a part of the vernacular, ribonucleic acid remains extraordinarily complex, even for the scientists who study it.
The varied and extensive functions of RNA remain "the biggest black box of all molecular medicine," according to Juan Alfonzo, a Brown University professor of molecular biology, cell biology and biochemistry and executive director of the new Brown RNA Center in the Division of Biology and Medicine that launched last year. The center is focused on making basic RNA discoveries and translating their impact to patient outcomes. In partnership with other RNA experts, the center has also been catalyzing an international effort to identify and sequence all human RNA—a project known as the Human RNome Project.
Alfonzo said that the study of RNA requires the expertise of researchers from a variety of backgrounds, including biochemistry, genetics, cellular biology and more. It also requires a sense of curiosity and awe, and the same delight that Alfonzo finds in RNA research. When he describes the activity of th.