FAREWELL SYMPOSIUM RONALD PLASTERK
8 SEPTEMBER 2007

On 22 February Ronald Plasterk has been appointed Minister of Education, Culture and Science. This appointment followed a remarkable career in science. The Hubrecht Institute – of which Ronald Plasterk has been a director from 2000 until his appointment as Minister – would like to mark this occasion by organizing a symposium on the subject of small RNAs.

The term "Small RNAs" refers to several recently discovered classes of regulatory RNA molecules. These molecules have triggered revolutionary changes in the way experiments are done, because they have enabled gene knock-down experiments on a genome-wide scale in many experimental systems. In addition, these small RNA molecules drive a novel gene regulatory network that has escaped attention for decades, and thus created an entirely novel field of research. Ronald Plasterk has been a major player in this field, both in the application of small RNA molecules for genome-wide gene knock-down studies as well as in the studies of how these small RNAs carry out their silencing effects.

We welcome some of the foremost scientists in the field as speakers: David Baulcombe, Greg Hannon, Reuven Agami, René Ketting and the Nobel laureates Phil Sharp and Craig Mello. The symposium will be followed by a farewell reception. Both the symposium and the reception are supported by the University Utrecht, the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Cancer Genomics Centre.

The symposium is free of charge, but registration is required due to limited seating. You can register for the symposium through the link on this website and confirmation of availability will be sent to you during the second week of August.

We are looking forward to welcoming you on 8 September.

Hans Clevers
Director Hubrecht Institute