When Eliezer contacted me, he was looking for something that could showcase his research interest. He was starting a lab, he explained, and was looking for a fun and thoughtful visual for his site. I asked him to tell me a little about his work.
The primary goal of my lab is to decipher the role of RNA metabolism in craniofacial development and cancer. I didn’t understand what he wanted exactly. I was just starting to make some (stressing the some!) sense of DNA. Are you looking for craniofacial structure?
He replied….Like DNA, RNA is a repository of genetic information. Before DNA existed, RNA was responsible for carrying all the genetic information. While this function now is carry [sic] by DNA, still all the genetic information has to be copied into RNA in order for a gene to be properly expressed. Unlike DNA, RNA is a very versatile and multitasking molecule, and play many important roles in the cells. It is really mind-blowing all the functions that RNA can play in the cell and yet we know very little about the role of RNA metabolism in cells.
…Most of my work focuses on cellular events that occur inside the nucleus.
… my goal is to understand how different aspects of RNA metabolism are coordinately controlled to generate structure and function during embryonic development and how mutations in components of the RNA metabolic program lead to congenital disorders and cancer.
We made some agreements. I sent him an image. And recently I came across his site! Look → Calo Lab.
While I have done various studies of cells since that time – RNA is on my list of things to get a sense of. One day!
The body is a labyrinth. I love that I stumbled into it.
Monica Aissa Martinez 