Final meeting

The final meeting of INTEG-RNA was held on the 4th of December 2023 in a hybrid form. The meeting was hosted by the Coordinator, CEITEC MU and there was also a possibility to join us online via ZOOM.

The final project meeting commenced with a welcoming address by the Project Coordinator, Prof Mary O'Connell, setting the tone for the day's discussions. The primary focus of the meeting was on project performance, with presentations from M. Musilová and work package leaders. The first session covered progress by work packages, highlighting main achievements, obstacles encountered, deviations from the original plan, and the extent to which the objectives of each WP were met. Key Project Indicators and financial performance were also discussed. The final reporting process was outlined, followed by a question and discussion session.

Karla Plevová from CEITEC MU shared insights into the benefits that the INTEG-RNA grant brought to their research group. This session provided a valuable perspective on the impact of the project on individual participating entities.

In the afternoon, scientific sessions delved into outcomes of seed funding between CEITEC MU researchers and project partners, emphasizing the collaboration's success. CEITEC MU speakers included Mary O’Connell, Marek Mráz, Jiří Fajkus, and Štěpánka Vaňáčová, covering diverse topics such as the identification of endogenous RNA substrates, IncRNAs in microenvironmental interactions, plant telomerase RNA, and the specificity of human m6A RNA demethylases.

The meeting continued with scientific sessions featuring speakers from partner institutes. Vladimír Beneš from EMBL discussed flow cytometry and single-cell multi-omics. Mark Helm from JGU presented on RMaP, while Julian König from IMB explored the role of m6A RNA modifications in dosage compensation and RNA decay. Atlanta Cook from UEDIN shared insights into the recognition of double-stranded RNA by the NF45-NF90 complex.

These scientific sessions provided a platform for sharing the outcomes of seed funding, fostering collaboration between CEITEC MU researchers and project partners. The discussions also laid the groundwork for planning future collaborations beyond the scope of the current project. The meeting concluded on a positive note, celebrating the achievements and collaborative efforts made throughout the duration of the INTEG-RNA project.

On the next day (the 5th of December), the final meeting was followed by a joint group meeting was between CEITEC groups and three groups from Edinburgh University involved in the INTEG-RNA project. They included the groups of David Tollervey, Donal O’Carroll, and Atlanta Cooke and this meeting was open to all members of the CEITEC scientific community. Junior members of the Edinburgh groups gave presentations on their research topic and some CEITEC group leaders presented research from their groups. There was also an open discussion about bioinformatics in particular in the analysis of RNA sequencing data. The topics discussed included; what were the best practices and how to solve common problems that arise with this type of analysis. This joint Group meeting was successful as it initiated a very lively interaction with the audience and the organizers were thanked for organizing it.