Researchers, clinicians, trainees and industry professionals gathered at the William and Ida Friday Center on May 4-5 for the 49th Annual UNC Lineberger Scientific Symposium, which focused on emerging discoveries in RNA biology and their potential to advance cancer research and treatment. The symposium reached registration capacity with 250 attendees and featured presentations from nationally and internationally recognized leaders in the field.
Coordinated by Chad Pecot, MD, professor of medicine and director of the UNC RNA Discovery Center, this year’s symposium theme, “Innovative Directions in RNA Biology & Therapeutics,” highlighted advances in non-coding RNAs, RNA processing, RNA modifications, epitranscriptomics and RNA-based therapeutics. The primary coordinators of the event planning committee were Mackenzie Ingle, Melissa Mack and Kathryn Collier.
The program included presentations from researchers at institutions including the University of Chicago, Harvard Medical School, UT Southwestern Medical Center, MD Anderson Cancer Center, Yale School of Medicine, Purdue University and University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Inaugural lectureship
A notable part of this year’s symposium was the introduction of the inaugural Earp Lecture, a new endowed lectureship established in 2025 through a gift from Mark Graham, MD, and Laneta Dorflinger. The lectureship honors H. Shelton “Shelley” Earp, MD, former director of UNC Lineberger, and Jo Anne Earp, ScD, whose combined decades of service have had a transformative impact on the UNC-Chapel Hill and its mission of improving health through research, education and public service.
Introducing the lectureship, Robert Ferris, MD, PhD, executive director of UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, reflected on Shelley Earp’s lasting legacy.
“Shelley’s many years of visionary leadership as director of Lineberger helped build this center into the nationally recognized, NCI-designated comprehensive cancer center that it is today through faculty mentorship, interdisciplinary science and extraordinary commitment to excellence,” Ferris said.
Ferris also recognized Jo Anne Earp’s contributions at the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health.
“Together, the Earps represent the very best of UNC’s mission — leadership, mentorship, collaboration and service in pursuit of better health,” he said.
The inaugural lecture was delivered by Chuan He, PhD, the John T. Wilson Distinguished Service Professor at the University of Chicago and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator whose pioneering work established RNA methylation as a fundamental mechanism of gene regulation and helped launch the field of RNA epigenetics. His keynote address, “Gene Expression Regulation by snoRNAs,” was presented during the symposium’s epitranscriptomics session.
Poster session
The symposium also featured a poster session showcasing research from graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Twenty posters were selected for presentation, and a judging panel recognized the top three posters in each category. Travel awards for the winners were supported by the UNC RNA Discovery Center.
The poster session was coordinated by Alessandro Porrello, PhD, with administrative support from Kathryn Collier.
Graduate poster award winners
First place
Gilbert Giri, UNC-Chapel Hill
“Mutant PCBP1 rewires RNA processing to drive cancer”
Second place
Quinn Eberhard, UNC-Chapel Hill
“Predicting functional RNA domains from combinatorial protein binding events”
Third place
Hasna Kanan, UNC-Greensboro
“Assessing the stability of RNA modifications during cell culture passaging by quantitative mass spectrometry”
Postdoctoral poster award winners
First place
Scott R. Allen, PhD, UNC-Chapel Hill
“Alu pairing partner competition and the influence of ADAR editing”
Second place
Shuangshuang Yang, PhD, UNC-Chapel Hill
“Structural and biological bases of cGAS bending bubble DNA to form an active dimer”
Third place
Guannan Huang, PhD, UNC-Chapel Hill
“Myeloid-specific NLRP12 is a checkpoint of colonic inflammation by promoting taurine-driven microbiota”
Now in its 49th year, the UNC Lineberger Scientific Symposium continues a longstanding tradition of bringing leading researchers to Chapel Hill to share discoveries, foster collaborations and explore emerging areas of cancer research with the potential to improve patient outcomes