Dr. Zimmer Lab team in Duluth identify a new type of circular RNA

Kudos to Dr. Sara Zimmer and her laboratory researchers Clara Smoniewski, PhD candidate 2023, and Austin Petersen, undergraduate student, from the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Minnesota, Duluth campus, and colleagues for their newly published research article about a circular RNA molecule from parasites. The Zimmer lab specializes in the study of trypanosome parasites.

In the biomedical sciences, scientists can only study what they know exists. RNA is a biological molecule that has known roles and conformations. In this paper, they describe how they serendipitously identified a new type of RNA that has a circular conformation in pathogenic single-celled parasites. They have hypothesized potential roles for these circular RNAs in these parasites that they can now investigate. Read the article here.