The RNA Society is a non-profit, international
scientific society
A learned society ( ; also scholarly, intellectual, or academic society) is an organization that exists to promote an academic discipline, profession, or a group of related disciplines such as the arts and sciences. Membership may be open to a ...
that serves to facilitate the dissemination of scientific results and concepts in
ribonucleic acid (RNA) research. The society was founded in 1993 and currently consists of over 1800 members.
History
The RNA Society was founded in 1993. By
Olke Uhlenbeck's account, the society spawned from a group of scientists studying
RNA processing which first grew from a meeting at
Brookhaven National Laboratory
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) is a United States Department of Energy national laboratories, United States Department of Energy national laboratory located in Upton, New York, a hamlet of the Brookhaven, New York, Town of Brookhaven. It w ...
in 1974 and held annual meetings at
Cold Spring Harbor starting in 1982. The society was formed for
tax
A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax co ...
reasons following a surplus of money from a 1992 RNA processing meeting in
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...
. The first president was
Tom Cech,
Joan Steitz was the first vice-president and president-"elect", Chris Greer was the first CEO, and Uhlenbeck was the first secretary/treasurer. In 2005, after more than 20 years of the society's existence,
John Abelson deemed it a big success through its unique journal and annual meeting styles.
Organization
The RNA Society is governed by an elected
board of directors
A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency.
The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...
and a
president
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment Film and television
*'' Præsident ...
, as well as an unelected
CEO and
CFO.
Presidents and directors serve two-year terms; the current president is
Anna Marie Pyle. In addition to these society officials, society affairs including the annual meeting and awards are accomplished by a number of chairs and committees.
Since 1995 the RNA society has facilitated the peer-reviewed journal
''RNA'' through
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press with the
editor in chief being Timothy W. Nilsen. The society hosts annual meetings and since 2016 has funded RNA salons for regional meetings throughout the year. The society also gifts annual awards, including Travel Fellowships, a Young Scientist Award, Early- and Mid-career Awards, and the
Elisa Izaurralde Award.
See also
*
RNA (journal)
*
List of RNA biologists
*
Protein Society
*
American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (ASBMB) is a learned society that was founded on December 26, 1906, at a meeting organized by John Jacob Abel (Johns Hopkins University). The roots of the society were in the American Ph ...
References
External links
{{Authority control
Biology societies
Scientific societies based in the United States