The 13th edition of the SifrARN (Structure, Integration, Function and Reactivity of RNA) conference will be held from the 18^th to the 20^th of November 2024 in Lyon, France. This conference aims at gathering people from all fields of RNA biology, to exchange and discuss unifying themes related to the importance of RNA.

RNAs play key roles in the regulation of gene expression in all living organisms and are also used as markers and therapeutic targets in many diseases including cancer and infectious diseases. The wide variety of roles and mechanisms of action of RNAs are based on their structures, modifications and interactions with proteins. The SifrARN conference will cover all aspects of RNA biology with a focus on recent technological advances to identify, detect and study RNA molecules, in order to better understand their wide range of actions.

We will have the pleasure to listen to three keynote speakers: Prof. Dr. Maria Carmo-Fonseca, Pr. Matthias Hentze and Pr. Roland Beckmann.

The Organising Committee.

Prof. Dr. Maria Carmo-Fonseca, Institute of Molecular Medicine, Lisbon University, Lisbon, Portugal.

Prof. Carmo-Fonseca, as a post-doc in Heidelberg (Germany), discovered that spliceosomal snRNAs concentrate in a sub-nuclear compartment later identified as coiled or Cajal bodies. She has devoted the rest of her career to the study of nuclear organization, RNA and splicing. She co-founded the Lisbon Institute of Molecular Medicine and served as its first Director for 14 years. Her group study RNA splicing and its role in the regulation of gene expression in cancer and genetic diseases.

Pr. Matthias Hentze, Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit, EMBL/Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany.

Pr. Matthias Hentze is director of EMBL since 2013, co-Director of the Molecular Medicine Partnership Unit at Heidelberg since 2002. His group, co-directed with Andreas Kulozik, focuses on basic and translational aspects of RNA biology in common diseases such as the hemoglobin disorders, thrombosis, inflammation and childhood cancer. Together they made important contributions in the field of mRNA metabolism (notably the nonsense-mediated mRNA decay mechanism) and 3' end processing.

Pr. Roland Beckmann, Gene Center Munich, Munich University, Munich, Germany.

Pr. Roland Beckmann leads a research team focusing on deciphering the molecular mechanisms involved in the regulation of protein biosynthesis, as well as the biogenesis of eukaryotic ribosomes. His laboratory predominantly employs cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) to determine the structure of functionally defined complexes involved in these processes. Among his most recent and significant contributions are the elucidation of the role of the Ccr4-Not complex in the codon-dependent regulation of mRNA stability, the discovery of a mechanism involved in the resolution of ribosome collisions in bacteria, and the structural and functional characterization of the final cytoplasmic maturation stages of the small ribosomal subunit in humans.