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About event
For over 30 years the Keegan-O’Connell group have studied ADARs, the RNA editing enzymes. During this period, they have purified ADARs, cloned ADAR genes and characterized these enzymes. They also demonstrated the RNA editing-independent functions of ADARs, studied human ADAR mutant proteins and elucidated the role of ADARs in innate immunity in both mammals and Drosophila. Meanwhile, this fledging RNA Modification field has expanded beyond all recognition and has been shown to be a major regulator of immunity.
This conference will bring together leaders in the ADAR field as well as past members of Keegan-O’Connell group to celebrate the group’s achievements. The conference will be held for one and a half days in Mendel’s Augustinian Abbey, Brno.
Programme
Sunday, 29 March 2026
Arrival to Brno
Monday, 30 March 2026
9:00–9:30 Registration
9:30–9:45 Opening Remarks
Session I. Chair Angela Gallo
9:45–10:15 Josh Rosenthal: A Novel ADAR1 Drives High-Level mRNA Recoding in Cephalopods
10:15–10:45 Sara Macias: The Complex Life of dsRNA
10:45–11:15 Andre Gerber: Not Just Metabolism: Phosphofructokinase as a Posttranscriptional Regulator of the Cell Cycle
11:15–11:45 Coffee Break
11:45–12:15 Erez Levanon: RNA Editing at the Single Cell Level
12:15–12:45 Leeanne McGurk: The Poly ADP-Ribose Polymerase Tankyrase Switches the Disease-Associated RNA-Binding Protein TDP-43 From Active to Aggregating
12:45–13:30 Lunch Break
Session II. Chair Leeanne McGurk
13:30–14:00 Xianghua Li: What ADAR Taught Me About Mutation: Connecting Early Insights to Modern Deep Mutational Scanning
14:00–14:30 Anna Cherian: New Surprises About ADAR1p150
14:30–15:00 Michael Jantsch: Of as and Is, or How One Amino Group Can Make All the Difference
15:00–16:00 Mendel Museum + Basilica Tours With a Guide in EN
18:00–22:00 Dinner at the Old Town Hall
Tuesday, 31 March 2026
Session III. Chair Xianghua Li
9:00–9:30 Aikaterini Gatsiou: Towards Understanding the Principles of ADAR-Mediated Immunity
9:30–10:00 Mark Helm: News From the Human RNome Project Consortium
10:00–10:30 Cornelia Vesely: Edited Filamin A in Myeloid Cells Protects From Colitis and Is Induced Upon T Helper Cell Activation
10:30–11:00 Coffee Break
11:00–11:30 Meng How Tan: Reading and Writing Inosines in the Transcriptome
11:30–12:00 Ann-Kristin Östlund Farrants: The Human Immune Response to Malaria - An African Story.
12:00–12:30 Angela Gallo: ADAR at the Frontline: From MaryO' to Now and Beyond!
12:30–12:45 Closing Remarks
Lunch to Go
More information
Travel information
Regarding flights, there are direct flights from Stansted UK to Brno. Otherwise it is easiest to fly to Vienna. There is a bus, https://regiojet.com/ from the airport, just outside departures, on the right.
Also it is possible to get a train from the airport to Vienna main train station (Wien Hauptbahnhof) and there are trains every two hours that go to Prague and stop in Brno.
The other alternative is to fly to Prague, take a bus from the airport to the train station and from there are intercity trains every hours to either Vienna or Bratislava that stop in Brno.
Brno is very compact so it is easy to walk from the train station to your hotel or you can take a tram from outside the train station and pay on board with your debit card. You tap the card when you enter and leave the tram/bus.
Accommodation information
Accommodation is not provided by the event organizers. However, we have arranged conference discounts at several partner hotels across the city. You can find the details in the document linked
Explore Brno
To discover things to do in Brno, including sightseeing, cultural events, and local attractions, visit Go To Brno.
If you would like to book a tour of Villa Tugendhat, we recommend doing so here as soon as possible, as availability is limited and tours fill up quickly.
For ideas on where to eat and drink in Brno check out the Taste Brno guide here.
Practical information available for download
Phone: +420 54949 4762, +420 771 279 719
