Ochota Campus · Warsaw · since June 2016
RNA Club Warsaw
A monthly meeting for everyone working on RNA on the Ochota Campus: talks with unpublished data, open discussion, then pizza and time to talk with the labs next door.
About
Ten years of RNA talk on campus
RNA Club Warsaw started in June 2016 with a kick-off meeting at IIMCB, organised by Marcin Magnus as a spin-off of Do Science! with support from prof. Jacek Kuźnicki. From October 2016 it was funded as an RNA Salon by the RNA Society, later with Lexogen as co-sponsor. The aim has stayed the same: help labs working on RNA learn what their neighbours do, share methods and reagents, and start collaborations.
The club has hosted close to fifty speakers so far. In autumn 2026 it restarts as a regular monthly series, rotating between the four institutes of the Ochota Campus, and celebrates its tenth anniversary this season.
Who it is for
PhD students, postdocs, PIs
Anyone on campus whose work touches RNA: transcription, processing and decay, translation, modifications, structure, RNA viruses, mRNA therapeutics, chemistry and computation. Members of other Warsaw institutes are welcome too.
Talks are deliberately kept off the record so speakers can show unpublished data and early projects and get real feedback.
Meeting format
One afternoon a month
- Talk 1 · 20 min + 10 min discussionEarly enough for people who collect children after work.
- Talk 2 · 20 min + 10 min discussionEach lab gets one slot. It can be split between two people.
- Pizza and drinksInformal networking at the host institute, paid from the club budget.
- OptionalContinue the discussion over a beer nearby.
Ground rules
- Speakers come from labs outside the hosting institute.
- No streaming, no recording. Unpublished work is welcome.
- Each lab decides who speaks and what they present.
- Before each meeting we ask for a quick RSVP so we order the right amount of food.
Planned extras
- A yearly meeting with RNA biotech companies.
- A spring session, for example with those heading to the RNA Society meeting in Strasbourg.
- A booklet of all RNA labs on campus, made from the kick-off flash talks.
Season 2026/27
Kick-off and schedule
First meeting room booked
Wednesday, 14 October 2026 · 15:00
CeNT UW, Centre of New Technologies, University of Warsaw
Lab flash talks. Every PI introduces their lab in about 3 minutes and 1–3 slides, all in one shared slide deck. Two rounds with a coffee break in between, then pizza and networking. At the event we will also fill in the talk schedule for the season.
Suggested content for your slides
- Lab name, institute, and your main research question in one or two sentences
- Model systems and methods
- What you can offer: techniques, cell lines, equipment, expertise
- What you are looking for: collaborators, methods, materials
| Month | Date | Host | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| October | Wed 14 Oct 2026 | CeNT UW | confirmed |
| November | Wed 18 Nov 2026 | IBB PAS | proposed |
| December | Wed 16 Dec 2026 | IMol PAS | proposed |
| January | Wed 20 Jan 2027 | IIMCB | proposed |
| February | Wed 17 Feb 2027 | rotation | proposed |
| March | Wed 17 Mar 2027 | rotation | proposed |
| April | Wed 21 Apr 2027 | rotation | proposed |
| May | Wed 19 May 2027 | rotation | proposed |
| June | Wed 16 Jun 2027 | rotation | proposed |
From November we plan to meet on the third Wednesday of each month. It avoids 11 November, the February school holidays and Easter week. Dates and hosts will be confirmed after group leaders reply. About 18 talk slots are available until June.
Laboratories
RNA labs around the campus
Group leaders invited to the club, with short descriptions taken from lab and institute websites. UW covers the Faculties of Chemistry, Physics and Biology; WUM is the Medical University of Warsaw. If your lab is missing or the description is off, write to the organisers and we will fix it.
No labs match this search.
News
What's been happening
2026 – 2027
- Room booked for the kick-off
The CeNT UW lecture hall is reserved for Wednesday 14 October 2026, 15:00–17:00: lab flash talks, then pizza.
- RNA Club Warsaw is back
Group leaders across Ochota Campus are invited to relaunch the club for its 10th anniversary. A new Slack workspace and WhatsApp group open.
2023 – 2024
- Eric Westhof (Strasbourg) returns
“From geometric recognition in the ribosome to tRNA modifications and human diseases”, followed by a career session for PhD students and postdocs. IIMCB, room 003.
- Szymon Świeżewski (IBB) and Paweł Mikulski (IMol)
Two talks: “lncRNA landscape of DOG1” and “Remember & Forget: chromatin-based mechanisms of transcriptional memory”. IIMCB, room 003.
- Agata Starosta (IBB)
“The translatome of the Bacillus spore”. IIMCB, room 003.
- Ewelina Małecka-Grajek (IIMCB)
“Choreography of RNA–protein interaction for gene regulation”.
2022 – 2023
- Back in person: Summer Edition
Gracjan Michlewski (IIMCB): “Regulation of RIG-I/IFN signalling by RNA-binding proteins”, then pizza. The first in-person RCW since 2019.
- CASP RNA SIG launches
The first talk of the RNA structure special interest group co-founded by Marcin Magnus and Rachael Kretsch: Yu Li on RNA structure prediction with deep learning.
2021 – 2022
- Magdalena Dziembowska and Rafał Szabla
“Synaptic translation of mitochondrial proteins” (CeNT UW) and “Shedding UV light on the origins of RNA” (Wrocław University of Science and Technology). Online.
- Ana Fiszbein (Boston University)
The evolution of hybrid exons. Online.
- Paweł Grzechnik and Maciej Cieśla
“Nascent transcriptome: a hidden signature of gene expression” (Birmingham) and “Beyond the post-genomic era: pre-mRNA splicing in cancer” (IMol). Online.
- Agnieszka Tudek (IBB)
RNA quality control and degradation in budding yeast. Online.
- Relaunch with David Bartel
Keynote “Regulation of mRNA translation and decay” (Whitehead/MIT/HHMI), plus short talks from new Ochota RNA groups: Michlewski, Starosta, Bandyra and Turowski. Online.
- RNA Club Warsaw is back for 2021/22
With support from the RNA Society and Lexogen, the club restarts with monthly online seminars, organised by a new team led by Vladyslava Liudkovska.
2019 – 2020
- Call for a new organising team
After three years and more than twenty events, lectures and workshops, the founding team looks for successors.
2018 – 2019
- Matthew Disney (Scripps)
An IIMCB seminar, “Translating RNA Sequence into Lead Small Molecule Medicines”, followed by an RNA Club / Do Science! evening with career advice.
- Keynote: Rhiju Das (Stanford)
Two talks: computer modelling and design of 3D RNA structure, and RNA technologies developed through the Eterna online game.
- Test talks before RNA 2019
Speakers heading to the RNA Society meeting in Kraków rehearse and get feedback: Konarska, Dziembowski, Świeżewski and Bujnicki labs.
- R and Python workshop with #NGSchool
A hands-on introduction to programming for biologists.
- Meeting I 2018/19 at IIMCB
Hosted by IIMCB director prof. Marta Miączyńska.
- RNA-Puzzles open session
Talks by Jiří Šponer, Samuela Pasquali and Petr Šulc at IIMCB.
- RNA Salon funding renewed
The RNA Society approves RNA Salon funding for 2018/19, with Lexogen as co-sponsor.
2017 – 2018
- Meeting III: Symposium
The third meeting of the 2017/18 season.
- Meeting at IIMCB
Short talks by junior researchers from the Kufel, Bujnicki and Kaczmarek labs.
- #NGSchool workshops
A series of hands-on workshops with NGSchool, including genome and transcriptome assembly, ChIP-seq and RNA-seq analysis.
- First meeting of 2017/18
The club opens its second season.
- Keynote 2017: Eric Westhof
The first RNA Club Warsaw keynote lecture.
2016 – 2017
- RNA Club III
The third meeting of the first season.
- RNA Club II at IBB
Held in IBB room E.
- First RNA Salon grant
The RNA Society's RNA Salon programme funds RNA Club Warsaw in its launch year.
- Wojciech Galej (MRC LMB) visits
An early RNA Club / Do Science! meeting.
2015 – 2016
- Kick-off meeting at IIMCB
The very first RNA Club Warsaw meeting, organised by Marcin Magnus as a spin-off of Do Science! and chaired by Szymon Świeżewski. Five short talks from the Bujnicki, Dziembowski, Świeżewski, Kufel and Malinowska labs, then a poster session with eight posters, supported by prof. Jacek Kuźnicki and IIMCB.
From the RNA Club Warsaw mailing list, organisers' emails and the club's Facebook page.
Join
How to stay in touch
Email is the official channel: every meeting is announced on the mailing list. The other channels are for informal chat, sharing papers and asking around for reagents. When you join the list, please give your full name, lab and institute.
Mailing list
rna-club-warsaw@googlegroups.comGoogle Group. Join through the invitation link sent to your PI.
Slack
Workspace rna-club-warsaw. Papers, protocols, "does anyone have…" questions.
Group chat for quick updates. Ask a member for the invite link.
Organisers
Steering committee
Supported by
Our sponsors
RNA Salon grants from the RNA Society, sponsored by Lexogen, cover food and drinks at our meetings. The club budget is managed by IIMCB.