misciwriterseditors blog, ComSciConMI2025

Myelin Matters: Understanding Oligodendrocyte Dysfunction in a Rare Neurodegenerative Disease

Written by: Alexandra (Alexa) Putka

Edited by: Colter Giem

This piece was written in collaboration with the 2025 ComSciCon-MI Write-A-Thon.

         In 2019, rare diseases in the United States cost almost $1 trillion in direct and indirect costs to patients and caregivers, according to the National Economic Burden of Rare Disease Study. This astronomical number emphasizes that research on rare diseases not only benefits patients and their families, but it also stands to make a considerable societal and economic impact. I am a graduate student researching a rare genetic disease called Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3, or SCA3, which affects one in every 50,000 to 100,000 people. Ataxia means loss of coordination, and symptoms appear similar to drunkenness: stumbling, falling, incoordination, and slurred speech. Symptoms are relentlessly progressive and result in death, usually 10 to15 years after symptom onset. Unfortunately, SCA3 has no known cures or treatments to halt or reverse disease progression. This emphasizes the need for ongoing research to better understand the disease and provide answers for this fatal disease.

Continue reading “Myelin Matters: Understanding Oligodendrocyte Dysfunction in a Rare Neurodegenerative Disease” →
misciwriterseditors blog, ComSciConMI2025

Evolution in Plain Sight: The Simple Observations Explaining Nature

Written by: Elena Renshaw

Edited by: Courtney Myers

This piece was written in collaboration with the 2025 ComSciCon-MI Write-A-Thon.

Natural selection is happening all around us, shaping the living world and our future; we just need to observe. When Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species in 1859, he proposed a revolutionary idea: organisms within the natural world actually change over time, through a process he called adaptation by natural selection. What made his work so groundbreaking was not any specific discovery, but how he applied what he saw to explain how species adapt and diversify. Darwin demonstrated that by carefully observing the natural world, we can trace how small differences in individual beings accumulate into significant transformations over generations.

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misciwriterseditors blog, ComSciConMI2025

Sensory Neurons: A New Target for Treating Peripheral Neuropathy in SCA3

Written by: Juan Mato

Edited by: Brenna Saladin

This piece was written in collaboration with the 2025 ComSciCon-MI Write-A-Thon.

Spinocerebellar ataxia type 3 (SCA3) is the most common inherited form of ataxia– a disordered loss of motor coordination. This rare, progressive disorder stems from a genetic error in the DNA sequence encoding the ATXN3 protein. Instead of functioning normally, this mutant protein becomes toxic, gradually damaging nerve cells.

Continue reading “Sensory Neurons: A New Target for Treating Peripheral Neuropathy in SCA3” →
misciwriterseditors blog, RNA2026

Dr. Shelley Berger: Epigenetic pathways as targets in human disease

Live Blogger: Camila Gonzalez Curbelo

Editor: Paola Medina-Cabrera, Ryan Schildcrout

This piece was written live during the 10th annual RNA Symposium, “RNA Frontiers: From Mechanisms to Medicine” hosted by the University of Michigan’s Center for RNA Biomedicine.

“Doesn’t everyone want to increase their memory?” asks Dr. Shelley Berger. 

Understanding the mechanisms that drive memory loss and aging is precisely the motivation for Berger’s ongoing and exciting research. Dr. Shelley Berger is a scientist in the epigenetics field – the type of science that studies how genes can be regulated without altering the DNA sequence. Authoring high-impact publications in Nature, Science, and Cell, Dr. Berger is undoubtedly a world-renowned expert who has advanced our understanding of many basic biological pathways and has worked to translate this knowledge into applications in medicine and beyond. 

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misciwriterseditors blog, RNA2026

Dr. Nils Walter: Life in Flux: Dynamic RNA:Protein Complex Assembly Shapes Biomolecular Function

Live blogger: Ryan Schildcrout

Editor: Brenna Saladin

This piece was written live during the 10th annual RNA Symposium, “RNA Frontiers: From Mechanisms to Medicine” hosted by the University of Michigan’s Center for RNA Biomedicine.

Dr. Nils Walter opens his keynote speech by acknowledging the 10th annual RNA symposium. As a co-founder of the Center for RNA Biomedicine here at the University of Michigan, his excitement for the innovations proposed here is palpable. We feel similarly here at Michigan Science Writers for our 10th year celebration. Walter goes on to say that RNA biomedicine is unique–it offers the fastest path from fundamental discovery to medicine. He emphasizes that this symposium is all about collaboration in working towards swift translation from discovery to medicine. 

Continue reading “Dr. Nils Walter: Life in Flux: Dynamic RNA:Protein Complex Assembly Shapes Biomolecular Function” →
misciwriterseditors blog, RNA2026

Dr. Erik Sontheimer: Prime Assembly with Linear DNA Donors Enables Large Genomic Insertions

Live Blogger: Paola Medina-Cabrera

Editors: Camila Gonzalez Curbelo, Ryan Schildcrout 

This piece was written live during the 10th annual RNA Symposium, “RNA Frontiers: From Mechanisms to Medicine” hosted by the University of Michigan’s Center for RNA Biomedicine.

What if doctors could fix a genetic disease the same way we fix a typo? All cells in our bodies contain DNA–an instruction manual that tells our cells how to function. But that manual contains mistakes. For decades, scientists could read these instructions but struggled to change them effectively. This changed with the discovery of CRISPR, a revolutionary gene-editing technology that allows researchers to identify and edit specific DNA sequences. At the 10th Annual 2026 RNA Symposium at the University of Michigan, Dr. Erik Sontheimer, a biomedical researcher at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School, discusses an exciting new step forward in this field: a technique called Prime Assembly, which allows scientists to insert large pieces of DNA into the genome more efficiently. 

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misciwriterseditors blog, RNA2026

Dr. Karla Neugebauer: Co-transcriptional RNA processing yields unexpected versatility in gene regulation

Live Blogger: Lauren Heinzinger

Editors: Ryan Schildcrout, Brenna Saladin

This piece was written live during the 10th annual RNA Symposium, “RNA Frontiers: From Mechanisms to Medicine” hosted by the University of Michigan’s Center for RNA Biomedicine.

The flow of genetic information is a fundamental concept in biology, and it’s one of the first major topics that most biologists learn in school. DNA is first transcribed into RNA and then RNA is translated into protein. However, the process is far more complicated than this simple framework suggests. Dr. Karla Neugebauer begins her talk by diving into the hidden complexities of this process. She asks us to recall that the average human gene contains 30,000 base pairs and each gene typically takes 30 minutes to transcribe. As RNA transcripts become longer, more RNA-binding proteins (RBPs) can bind and other activities (e.g., RNA editing, RNA splicing) can occur. This means there is roughly a 30-minute window of opportunity to influence nascent RNA, or the newly synthesized immature RNA transcripts, making them dynamic moving targets for regulation. This is an important step in translation, as RNA processing can have far-reaching biological consequences.

Continue reading “Dr. Karla Neugebauer: Co-transcriptional RNA processing yields unexpected versatility in gene regulation” →
misciwriterseditors blog, RNA2026

Dr. Sarah Woodson: Slip stick folding of CAG repeat drives aggregation of expanded HTT RNA

Live Blogger: Lauren Heinzinger

Editors: Ryan Schildcrout, Brenna Saladin

This piece was written live during the 10th annual RNA Symposium, “RNA Frontiers: From Mechanisms to Medicine” hosted by the University of Michigan’s Center for RNA Biomedicine.

Huntington’s Disease (HD) is a fatal hereditary neurodegenerative disorder that typically emerges between the ages of 30 and 50. It’s a progressive disease that damages neurons in the brain that control voluntary body movement, resulting in uncontrolled dance-like movements called chorea and abnormal postures. Other symptoms of HD include changes in behavior, emotion, personality, and thinking. Despite modern medicine and all of our amazing medical advancements, there is still no cure for HD. This makes it especially important to understand the mechanisms underlying how HD damages these important neural cells. 

Continue reading “Dr. Sarah Woodson: Slip stick folding of CAG repeat drives aggregation of expanded HTT RNA” →
misciwriterseditors blog, RNA2026

Dr. Madeleine Oudin: A splice-switching antisense oligonucleotide approach for pediatric epilepsies

Live Blogger: Brenna Saladin

Editor: Ryan Schildcrout

This piece was written live during the 10th annual RNA Symposium, “RNA Frontiers: From Mechanisms to Medicine” hosted by the University of Michigan’s Center for RNA Biomedicine.

Michelle Hasting introduces the third Keynote Speaker at the RNA symposium by saying Madeleine Oudin has an incredible story to tell. While Dr. Oudin is well known for tumor resistance and tumor microenvironment research, her lab recently switched gears to an entirely new subject matter. Michelle concludes her introduction noting that she believes Oudin qualifies as one of the strongest scientists she knows in terms of the rigor she exercises within her research.

Continue reading “Dr. Madeleine Oudin: A splice-switching antisense oligonucleotide approach for pediatric epilepsies” →
misciwriterseditors blog

From Printer Inkjets to Diagnostic Tests: The Promising World of Microfluidics

Written by: Camila Gonzalez Curbelo

Edited by: Nick Janne, Hector Mendoza, Jessica Li, and Ryan Schildcrout

Illustrated by: Caroline Harms

Like many students, I enjoy trivia nights at my local university bar. This past winter, during a Family Feud-style event, I found myself intrigued by a stirring bonus question round. The task was to name the most underestimated technologies regularly used by students. Among the top five answers displayed on the projector was the printer–an unassuming contender overshadowed by the likes of the laptop–yet a worthy candidate whose evolution has been critical for scientific discovery. 

Continue reading “From Printer Inkjets to Diagnostic Tests: The Promising World of Microfluidics” →