In 2020, Juan Alfonzo, a professor of molecular biology, cell biology and biochemistry, began a project out of “pure COVID boredom.” Now, that project may become the largest scientific undertaking ...

UC Vice President for Research Patrick Limbach is a key figure in the National Academies’ massive undertaking to sequence RNA in the next 15 years. A chemist who leads the University of Cincinnati’s ...

A new method can test the activity of thousands of RNA enzymes, called ribozymes, in a single experiment. The "RNA world" hypothesis proposes that the earliest life on Earth may have been based on RNA ...

RNA plays a vital role in how our genes are expressed and how diseases develop. Yet, because RNA molecules constantly change shape, understanding how they work has long been a major scientific ...

The original version of this story appeared in Quanta Magazine. For a molecule of RNA, the world is a dangerous place. Unlike DNA, which can persist for millions of years in its remarkably stable, ...