The UMD Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry cordially invites you to the

2024 Russell Marker Lecture in Organic Chemistry

with

Matthew D. Disney
(B.S. ’97, Chemistry)
Institute Professor and Chair
The Wertheim UF Scripps Research Institute

on

"RNA’s evolution from an eccentric molecule to the cause and cure of a global pandemic"

Thursday, November 7, 2024
4-5 p.m. Lecture
Reception to follow
Chemistry Building
Chemistry Great Hall (Room 1112)

If you have a question about this event, including disability accommodations, please contact Cathy Fisanich at cclark4@umd.edu or 301.405.1795

About the Talk
RNA was initially discovered as an odd molecule related to DNA before the turn of the 20th century. Shortly after the structure of the DNA double helix was discovered in the 1950s, RNA was thought to play an important, intermediate role in a cell to decode our DNA genetic material into protein molecules that carry out function. In the early 2000’s, the Human Genome Project revealed that humans encode far fewer proteins than was predicted, and that observation had many functional implications. It is now known that 2% of our genome encodes for protein and yet 80% of it encodes for RNA. We have since learned that our cells are essentially bags of RNA.  This molecule directs many essential functions in cells. Our sex is derived from adaptable functions of RNA. 

Many diseases are caused by malfunctioning RNAs including cancer, ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease), autism, and Alzheimer’s disease.  In fact, it is now thought that nearly all diseases could be cured by targeting RNA.  Recent world events have shown the importance of RNA. Global pandemics, both new and old, are cause by RNA.  Covid and influenza viruses have genetic material only composed of RNA. We are now in an era where RNA is also the cure, for example vaccines for various viruses are composed of RNA; short RNAs disable previously incurable genetic diseases.  Small molecules taken as a pill can also be used to disable disease- causing RNAs or repair defective ones, turning a death sentence into a manageable disease.  The eccentric RNA biomolecule that started off as a scientific oddity is now at the front of biomedical innovation. In this talk, I will describe the vast potential of RNA and the critical role that basic science plays in advancing medicine in important and yet unanticipated ways.

About the Speaker
Matthew Disney is a native of Baltimore, Maryland.  He received his early schooling in the Baltimore Catholic School System, his B.S. from the University of Maryland, and his Ph.D. from the University of Rochester in Physical Chemistry.

Matt is an Institute Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry at The Herbert Wertheim UF Scripps Institute for Biomedical Innovation and Technology (formerly Scripps Florida).

His laboratory has pioneered the development of small molecules targeting RNA, particularly by answering fundamental questions surrounding the molecular recognition of RNA folds by small molecules.  The resulting data have informed the design of chemical probes to study problems of biomedical importance and to advance a gene-to-RNA-to precision medicine paradigm.  Applications include development of sequence-based design of small molecules from genome sequence, using a disease-affected cell to manufacture its own medicine on-site, understanding the biology of coding and non-coding RNAs, and interfacing disease-causing RNAs with quality control machinery to edit or eliminate them from cells.

The lab’s research has garnered various awards including the ACS Nobel Laureate Signature Award for Graduate Education in Chemistry (with Alicia Angelbello), the Scripps Florida Mentor of the Year, the Sackler Prize in the Physical Sciences, Barry Cohen Award in Medicinal Chemistry, NIH Director’s Pioneer Award, the Tetrahedron Young Investigator Award, the Eli Lily Award in Biological Chemistry, the David W. Robertson Award in Medicinal Chemistry, among others. 

Importantly, the laboratory’s work has spurred small to large pharmaceutical companies to invest in small molecule targeting of RNA.  Matt has founded several biotech companies including Expansion Therapeutics (scientific headquarters in Jupiter, FL), which raised >$150M, and a new company that is currently in stealth mode.

About the Lecture
Established in 1988 by Russell E. Marker (B.S. '23, M.S. '24, chemistry), the annual Russell Marker Lecture in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Maryland focuses on natural products chemistry. Marker was an award-winning chemist who invented the octane rating system for gasoline. He also developed a proprietary chemical process—known as Marker degradation—that led to numerous hormone therapies, including the birth control pill.