Club Argentino del ARN- A brief history

 

Our current Argentinean RNA Club (Club Argentino del ARN- “CAA”) was born long time ago, as an embryonic form that little by little has mutated into its actual conformation. Around 2002, a bunch of laboratories working in topics related to the RNA field in the Buenos Aires metropolitan area started to gather periodically to share and exchange ideas, information and progress of their own projects. Few years later, and mostly motorized by young investigators that were setting up their independent labs, we proudly launched the Buenos Aires RNA Club (“Club de RNA de Buenos Aires”), which congregated RNA labs from FIL, IFIBYNE, INGEBI, IIB-UNSAM and other research institutions from Buenos Aires and surroundings.

Since that time, we have met either monthly or seasonally and in most sessions, PhD students and post-docs have been encouraged to present their ongoing work. From our perspective, presentations by students and young investigators as well as a horizontal exchange of ideas were key to the success of our gatherings, and this philosophy keeps being the essence of our RNA Club nowadays. In addition, by time to time we have the fortune to hear speakers from abroad. The “elders” will remember talks by Lynne Maquat, Joan Steitz, Josh Dubnau, Craig Smibert, James Dalberg, which fully packed the auditorium. In more recent years, Javier Caceres, Tito Baralle, Sebastian Kadener, Luisa Cochella, Martin Crespi and many others were invited to give seminars in our Club while visiting Buenos Aires for some other reason.

As it happens with many life forms, the club entered a sort of diapause (fortunately we escaped apoptosis!) with reduced activity for a while. However, metamorphosis inexorably progressed, and luckily the Buenos Aires RNA Club emerged renovated in 2016, to gather not only the founder members but also to include labs from other Argentinean cities including Rosario (IBR), Santa Fé (IAL), La Plata (IBBM-UNLP), among others. Of course, the support by the RNA Society, which started in 2016 has been crucial to keep our still expanding club at work.  

Our network includes laboratories focused in a great variety of subjects, from pre-mRNA processing (splicing and poly-adenylation) to translation and mRNA stability, RNA virus, circRNAs, non-coding RNAs (both short and long), RNA-membraneless organelles and so on. Adding to this wide assortment of molecular processes and regulatory mechanisms, an eclectic repertoire of model organisms ranging from bacteria and lower eukaryotes to plants, animals, and even viruses are present, combining imaging and molecular biology approaches. All these ingredients melt in a spicy pot that greatly renovate and inspire our research projects, giving rise also to several fruitful collaborations.

The Buenos Aires RNA Club not only kept the above mentioned activities but also, on 2018, a local workshop with the participation of near 200 RNA scientists from Argentina and Uruguay took place (https://biologiadelarn2018.wixsite.com/arn2018). This reinforced our links with the Uruguayan RNA community, and close contacts between the two neighbor countries were built. With all these strengths and new members, the club extended nationwide and the “Club Argentino del ARN” was officially founded on 2019.

The 2020 pandemic has imposed a deep change in our daily activities and even more on the logistic of all scientific meetings. Based on this, and to maintain our exchange and motivation even during these difficult times, we have initiated an “RNA home delivery” program based on webinars. The advantage of this is that it gives us the opportunity to easily include invited speakers from abroad, and this has renovated the enthusiasm on the local RNA community. This 2020 special program of the Argentinean Club is being shared with the Uruguayan Club, potentiating our skills. It is being a quite different year in an all of a sudden different world, but nevertheless with great expectations. We hope this new format will keep nurturing our work on RNA Cellular and Molecular Biology as intensely as in previous years. So far, our first webinar gathered 98 attendees, mostly from Argentina and Uruguay, as well as from other countries including France, Spain, USA and Canada.And of course, we will keep looking forward to get together again in a face-to-face format, with students and colleagues, not only at national meetings but also at international ones.

 

Anabella Srebrow and Graciela Lidia Boccaccio