April 17, 2023 - mRNA therapeutics

Credo Casmil (Blakney Lab): Expanding the repertoire of self-amplifying RNA vectors based on alphaviruses

Dr. Miffy Cheng/ Dr. Jerry Leung (Cullis Lab): Induction of Bleb Structures in Lipid Nanoparticle Formulations of mRNA Dramatically Improves Transfection Potency

Dr. Nicolas Salcedo (Jan Lab): Functional RNA discovery in dicistroviruses through metagenomic data analysis

Dr. Ying Tam (Acuitas): Lipid Nanoparticulate Delivery Systems to Enable Messenger RNA Medicines

July 17, 2023 - RNA and Disease

Eva Momchilova (Audas Lab): The Role of Ribosomal Intergenic Spacer RNA in Physiological Amyloid Formation

Al Rohet Hossain (Greenblatt Lab): Understanding the role of RNA binding proteins in autism spectrum disorders using Drosophila development

Michael Lizardo (Sorensen Lab): The eIF4A1/2 small molecule inhibitor CR-1-1B down-regulates the antioxidant response in metastatic OS cells and inhibits lung metastasis in vivo.

Owen Daly (Genevant Sciences): Tuning Lipid Nanoparticles for Specific Applications

Oct 16, 2023 - Non-coding RNA

Quinn Abram (Sagan Lab): Elucidating the RNA and protein interactions that underlie (+)-strand synthesis in Zika virus

Maria Jose Navarro Cobos (Brown Lab): Domains of XIST for establishing heterochromatin and silencing.

Samira Ebrahimi (Unrau Lab):

Daniel Kurek (Nanovation Therapeutics): Next-generation LNP technology for extrahepatic gene delivery

March 18, 2024 - RNA modifications

Dr. Zhen Jin (Ly Vu Lab): High-Resolution m6A Mapping in Human Hematopoietic Stem/Progenitor Cells

Renessa Gomes (Ly Vu Lab): Novel Therapeutic Targeting in Acute Myeloid Leukemia (Flash Talk)

Jenny Zhong (Gregg Morin Lab): Identification of alternatively spliced proteoforms in a leukemia cell line with the SF3B1-K700E mutation using short-read RNA-sequencing and shotgun proteomics

Dr. Andrew Varley (UBC RNA Core): RNA Modifications: Chemical vs. Enzymatic Synthesis

Kristy Ramsey & Laurena Mack (Lexogen): Unlocking the Transcriptomic Universe: A Revolution in Single-Cell RNA Sequencing

May 13, 2024

Ziwei Cai (Syam Somasekharan Lab): Investigating the role of the RNA-binding protein DEAD box ATPase DDX55 in castration-resistant prostate cancer

Amrita (Neil Cashman Lab): An oocyte model of TDP-43 toxicity implicates impaired translation as a major disease mechanism in ALS

Dr. Amani Hariri (Amani Hariri Lab): Advancing DNA-based real-time optical sensors for precision diagnostics

Petra Schreiner (Genevant): Optimizing Lipid Nanoparticles for Delivery in Primates

August 7, 2024 -Summer Career Event

An industry talk featuring our sponsor TriLink Biotechnologies - Dr. Ben Hudson (30 min)

Career Panel Discussion Featuring:

• Dr. Ben Hudson (TriLink)

• Dr. Julie Wong (New England Biolabs)

• Dr. Kent Chen (Genevant)

• Dr. Cedric Brimacombe (Polymorphic BioScience Inc.)

• Dr. Andrew Varley (UBC RNA Core)

• Dr. Chris Barbosa (Acuitas)

September 16, 2024

Blakney lab: Dr. Suiyang Liao - “Lipid nanoparticle design from mRNA vaccines to therapeutics”

Morin Lab: Dr. Krysta Coyle - “Uncovering a role for splicing factor mutations in B cell lymphomas”

Adams Lab: Dr. Keith Adams - “Gene expression and alternative splicing in response to Sclerotinia infection in Brassica genotypes”

Acuitas: Polina Blagojevic - “Imagining new ionizable lipids for RNA delivery”

November 18th, 2024 -Flash talks and poster session

March 17, 2025

Hendrik Boog - PhD Student, Unrau Lab, Simon Fraser University

“Topological RNA Links as an Origin of Life Model”

Manolya Sag - PhD Student, Sagan Lab, University of British Columbia

“Elucidating the Requirements of the Switch from Viral Translation to Replication in Hepatitis C Virus Infection”

Manideep Pachva - PhD Candidate, Sorensen Lab, University of British Columbia

“ADAR1 and Stress Granules: Crucial Defenders of Immunogenic Repeat Elements in Ewing Sarcoma”

Dr. Atul Rangadurai - RNA Scientist, NanoVation Therapeutics

“Immune responses to lipid nanoparticles (LNPs), host-pathogen interactions, and the mucosal immune system. ​"

May 12, 2025

Kristen Kong - RNA Scientist, UBC RNA Core

“Best Practices in RNA Manufacturing and QC: Insights from the UBC RNA Formulation Core”

Eva Momchilova - PhD Student, Audas Lab, University of British Columbia

“Regulation of stress-induced transcription of amyloidogenic non-coding RNA”

Dr. Carolyn Brown - Brown Lab, University of British Columbia

“XIST: Spreading Silence by RNA”

Tanya Murtha - Lexogen

“Solutions to RNA-Seq”

September 15, 2025

Amber Louwagie - Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Vu Lab, University of British Columbia

"Uncovering functional interactions between RNA methylation and the epigenome in normal and malignant hematopoiesis"

Tiffany Carlow - Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Hedtrich Lab, University of British Columbia

“Non-viral in situ gene editing effectively and safely rescues congenital ichthyosis-causing mutations in human skin” 

Amber Rose - Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Joy Lab, University of British Columbia

“Functional genomic analysis reveals mechanism of epigenetic interference in SARS-CoV-1 and SARS-CoV-2”

November 17, 2025 - Flash Talks & Poster Presentations

Flash Talks:

1. Julia Brown (Hedtrich Lab) – A Novel Therapeutic: Gene Editing for Inherited Skin Diseases

2. Hedieh Hashemi (Sagan Lab) – A twist in the tail: optimizing mRNA termini for improved protein production

3. Soma Roy (Unrau Lab) – Guanidinium-Based Nucleic Acid Concentrator

4. Zhen Jin (Vu Lab) – TBD

5. Chadwick Hou (Wong Lab) – Investigating the biological effects of G4 destabilization on telomere maintenance in ALT cancers

6. Aditi Kothiala (Jan Lab) – TBD

Poster Presentations:

1. Jordan Tom (Cheng Lab) – Optimizing LNP and Proteinase mRNA to Remodel Tumour Extracellular Matrix

2. Yilin Liu (Vu Lab) – Translation regulation mediated by CCR4-NOT complex subunit CNOT4 is essential for the survival of myeloid leukemia cells and disease progression

3. Hendrik Boog (Unrau Lab) – RNA replicators on a keychain: Connecting genome and enzymes before cells

4. Manolya Sag (Sagan Lab) – miR-122 triggers the switch from translation to replication in the HCV life cycle

5. Rachel Yutong Jiang (Brown Lab) – Examining the boundary between euchromatin and heterochromatin on the inactive X chromosome

6. Lucy Feng (Jan Lab) – TBD

January 21, 2026

Dr. Krysta Coyle (Morin Lab, Simon Fraser University)
Title: Cataloguing alternative splicing in B cell maturation

Dr. Krysta Coyle is a Research Associate at Simon Fraser University and has worked in Dr. Ryan Morin’s lab for the past seven years. Her research focuses on precision approaches to cancer treatment, using genomics and transcriptomics to uncover the molecular mechanisms underlying B cell lymphomas.

Kieran Maheden (Shakiba Lab, School of Biomedical Engineering)
Title: Embryonic cell competition mediates global translational changes during cell elimination

Kieran Maheden is a senior graduate student in the lab of Dr. Nika Shakiba. His work focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms of clonal cell elimination during early embryonic development.

Subash Chapagain (Jan Lab, UBC)
Title: Beyond the main lane: virome-based discovery and investigation of IRES-driven alternative reading frame translation

Subash Chapagain is a PhD student in the lab of Dr. Eric Jan in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UBC. His research focuses on identifying and characterizing structured RNA elements from diverse viruses and uncovering mechanisms of non-canonical translational regulation.