Telluride Workshop on Challenges in RNA Structural Modeling and Design

描述(申请人提供)：人们对RNA分子在所有细胞过程中的中心作用--从催化到控制基因表达到细胞分化--的高度认识，以及合成RNA在生物医学和生物分子工程中的实际应用，给实验和理论科学家提出了关于RNA结构分析、预测和设计的新挑战。这些挑战产生了许多创新的方法，包括跨学科的努力，以分析、预测、模拟和设计RNA分子。虽然已经有很多成功的报道，但由于实验分辨率有限和对RNA三级结构的不完全了解，特别是对大RNA的三级结构，该领域的进展一直受到阻碍。虽然RNA结构被认为是层次化的，但从其一级和二级结构来理解和预测其三级结构的难题总体上仍然没有解决。此外，还出现了一些数据库问题和RNA档案的有限协调。为了推进这一重要的科学前沿，我们将在2014年和2016年夏季举行TSRC会议，邀请领先的实验者和建模人员讨论和推进该领域。我们的目标是创建一个核心工作组，利用新颖的实验、数学、统计和计算方法，将致力于RNA基因组和分子水平的科学家聚集在一起。通过让来自不同学科的科学家熟悉挑战，并介绍当前的努力、进展和想法，我们希望在这一重要领域推动新的方法和合作，找出知识中的差距和需要取得进展的领域，并在第一次会议后通过2016年第二次会议的重点问题来解决这些差距。NIH的支持不仅有助于改进研讨会，还将通过会议报告和直接沟通，向NIH提供关于参与者对话和成果的直接反馈。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The heightened appreciation for the central role of RNA molecules in all cellular processes - from catalysis to control of gene expression to cellular differentiation - combined with the practical applications of synthetic RNAs in biomedicine and biomolecular engineering have raised new challenges regarding RNA structure analysis, prediction, and design to both experimental and theoretical scientists. These challenges have produced many innovative approaches, including interdisciplinary efforts, to analyze, predict, simulate, and design RNA molecules. While many successes have been reported, progress in the field has been hampered by limited experimental resolution and an incomplete understanding of RNA tertiary structure, especially for large RNAs. Though RNA structure is believed to be hierarchical, the difficult problem of understanding and predicting its tertiary structure from its primary as well as secondary structure remains unsolved in general. In addition, some database issues and limited coordination of RNA archives have emerged. To advance this important scientific frontier, we will hold TSRC meetings in Summers 2014 and 2016 to bring leading experimentalists and modelers to discuss and advance the field. We aim to create a core working group to bring together scientists working on both the genomic and molecular levels of RNA using novel experimental, mathematical, statistical, and computational methods. By familiarizing scientists from disparate disciplines with the challenges, and presenting current efforts, advances, and ideas, we hope to catalyze new approaches and collaborations in this important field, identify gaps in knowledge and areas for progress, and address these gaps after the first meeting via focused problems by the second meeting in 2016. Support by the NIH will help not only improve the workshop, but also provide NIH direct feedback on the participants' dialog and outcomes via resulting meeting reports and direct communications.