The director of Brown’s new RNA center discusses the formerly “forgotten cousin” of DNA and explains what the center is doing to maximize its potential.
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, PhD, professor of molecular biology, cell biology, and biochemistry and the Mencoff Family Executive Director of the Brown RNA Center, which 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 says 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 the RNA Center, Alfonzo often uses an unexpected word: play. He talks about scientists “playing around” with nanoparticles to learn how best to deliver RNA to therapeutic targets; he uses the phrase “playing games” to refer to the process of sequencing the RNA of people and pathogens and determining how to use them to create cures and immunity. And he describes the RNA Center as a hub that convenes leading researchers from different scientific fields and allows them to test hypotheses and work out solutions together.
“To make a proper center, you get a lot of people who have diverse interests and want to focus on RNA science and who like to play well with others, and you put them together,” Alfonzo says. “And then the sky’s the limit.”
