Identifying Functional RNA Targets at Scale to Prioritize Therapeutically Relevant Discovery Hypothesis
8:00 am - Tuesday 10th November 2026
Identifying RNA targets that are both biologically meaningful and chemically tractable remains one of the biggest bottlenecks in RNA-targeted drug discovery. Many RNA regions are capable of binding small molecules, but only a subset controls diseaserelevant biology in a way that can support a therapeutic hypothesis.
Join RNA biologists, screening scientists, translational researchers, and discovery teams to explore practical strategies for:
- Identifying which RNA transcripts, structures and regulatory elements are suitable for small-molecule intervention
- Moving beyond one-at-a-time target discovery with scalable screening and functional assay approaches
- Using chemical probing to distinguish dynamic RNA structures from functionally important conformational switches
- Matching each RNA target to the most appropriate therapeutic hypothesis, from splice modulation to direct binding, degradation or translational inhibition
- Learning from screening approaches that failed to generate actionable targets, functional hits or reliable discovery decisions
