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The paper, led by Miguel, with contributions from Joe, Ronit, Vinithra and Anatoly from the lab, as well as an interdisciplinary team from multiple dear collaborator labs, develops Pan-Mod-seq, a multi-sample, multi-treatment RNA-sequencing library preparation protocol permitting inference of 16 distinct modifications across dozens of samples in parallel, as well as the PANORAMA analysis pipeline. The approach was applied to RNA from 14 species spanning all domains of life, cultured under highly diverse conditions, concentrating mainly on archaeal and bacterial species, and on changes in the temperature the samples were grown in. We observe that while dynamic modifications are rare in mesophiles, in extreme hyperthermophiles ~50% of modifications are dynamic, including m⁵C, ac⁴C and pseudouridine (Ψ), and shed light on their regulation and function. Our findings systematically dissect rRNA modification plasticity, and pave the path for surveying the rRNA epitranscriptome in health and disease. 

The paper in which we explored whether changes in m6A levels can be attributed to semi-passive dynamics was published in eLife journal. In it, we establish a model capturing key steps in the life cycle of an mRNA. Despite the simplicity of the model and the fact that it does not allow any site-specific active reshaping of m6A levels, it predicts significant modulation of m6A levels, and captures relationships between mRNA localization, mRNA half-lives and m6A levels that could be confirmed based on experimental data. We proposed that m6A dynamics are attributable in part to semi-passive regulation, wherein changes in mRNA metabolism impact the susceptibility of a transcript to m6A-dependent decay, thereby altering m6A levels.

The Blavatnik Awards recognize outstanding, innovative scientists at the early stages of their careers for both their extraordinary achievements and their promise for future discoveries. Schragi is the laureate of the prestigous prize in the field of Life Sciences, along with two other Weizmann Institute scientists, Moran Shalev-Benami (Chemistry) and Thomas Vidick (Physical sciences and engineering).

In this work, Ran studied the determinants governing RNA m6A methylation, using interspecies and intraspecies hybrids in yeast and mammalian systems, coupled with massively parallel reporter assays and m6A-QTL reanalysis, and was able to show that m6A evolution and variability is driven primarily in ‘cis’, via two mechanisms: (1) variations altering m6A consensus motifs, and (2) variation impacting mRNA secondary structure. 

In our new Molecular Cell paper we present evidence that m6A is installed by default, at all eligible consensus motifs, except in the vicinity of splice junctions, where it is excluded by the exon junction complex. Not only m6A can be predicted, transcriptome-wide, via these simple rules, but also mRNA stability. We show that the exon 'sensing' mechanism, associating between mRNA stability and exon-intron architecture, is m6A.

Good luck David in the new lab!

After completing his MSc and PhD studies in the lab, David is now starting his new chapter as a post-Doc fellow in the Armbrust Lab at the University of Washington, Seattle. He is already off for an extremely good start, as he has won the prestigious EMBO Postdoctoral Fellowship. Good luck David and enjoy the new field of studies!

After a fruitful but relatively short term with us, Boris moves on to start his own lab.

After spending a fruitful close to two years term in the lab as a senior reasearcher, Boris got a position to start his own lab in the department of Biochemistry, faculty of Medicine, Technion, Haifa. Well done and good luck Boris, looking forward to seeing the great things you will do, and already missing you!

Congrats Anna, wonderful and well deserved!

Congratulations Anna for being awarded the 2022-2023 Azrieli Graduate Studies Fellowship! This fellowship is awarded to the best and brightest research students in Israel on the basis of outstanding academic merit, as well as commitment to improving their community, who promote academic and professional links between Israel and the rest of the world while contributing to the betterment of society.

While we always knew how amazing you are, it's super great that now everyone knows!

Super exciting - our first "offspring" lab was founded in TAU!

A huge congratulations to Dr. Aldema Sas-Chen for starting her own lab in Tel-Aviv University, we couldn't be more proud! We wish you tons of success and fun along the way, and us - many more "offsprings" :-)