This week, learn about the crowdsource RNA design platform, Eterna, and Anthony Stohr's switch work. In the future, how could Eterna be used to tackle to 3D RNA structure problem?
Meeting ID: 934 4593 5624
Passcode: 802843
Mailing list: groups.google.com/g/casp-rna-sig
Town Hall - Saturday, March 14, 9am PT eternagame.org/news/14267278
A University of Delaware researcher will be discussing how he applied #RNA switches Eterna reported in a 2022 PNAS paper to a #CRISPR system for conditional gene activation. #citsci
Screenshot of the winning switch design:
Want to learn more? Check out our blog post on the @frameshifter.org blog: frameshifter.org/blog/rna-cal...) And if you want to support or collaborate on the next steps of this work, get in touch! (7/7)
The insights generated by Eterna participants were crucial - their exploratory process and unique perspective is what created the heuristics needed for the success of automated mechanisms which can further accelerate design and deployment of technologies using this approach. (6/7)
The relative simplicity and efficiency also leads to a promising direction for computing - biological computers that operate at a smaller scale and lower energy use than we’ve otherwise been able to produce. (5/7)
The paper also describes how this could lead to impacts beyond diagnostics, like directed drug delivery and safe precision gene editing. You could even imagine how this could be used for, say, environmental monitoring (think water quality or molecule presence). (4/7)
A paper published in Nature Chemistry at the end of last year (doi.org/10.1038/s415...) describes how we did exactly this, designing a fast, low-cost, easily-deployable diagnostic for active TB, a leading global health crisis. (3/7)
Sensors are all over the place in biology - organisms are constantly maintaining activity of internal systems and responding to the environment. We can build on these natural systems to design our own biomolecular computers. (2/7)
Eterna players were able to design molecular calculators which could revolutionize global health, low-energy computing, and biosensing - lets talk about why this is exciting! (1/7)
I was amazed when I saw @rachael-kretsch.bsky.social present about this in an @rdaslab.bsky.social meeting. ROOL and GOLLD are stunning (dare I say beautiful) structures. She presented about this for @eternagame.org last year too! Recording available at eternagame.org/eternacon/2025 #RNASky 🧪
RNA switches designed by @eternagame.org players not only are highly efficient in vitro, they also work in cells! This is so cool! 🧪
@narjournal.bsky.social @markblenner.bsky.social
Metabolite-responsive scaffold RNAs for dynamic CRISPR transcriptional regulation: academic.oup.com/nar/article/...
Introducing gRNAde: our own little "AlphaGo Moment" for RNA design! 🧬🚀
📝: tinyurl.com/gRNAde-paper
Unlike proteins, RNA design has long relied on "wisdom of the crowd" (human experts) or the slow crawl of directed evolution — gRNAde changes that! 🧵👇
The Eterna puzzle interface displaying the three states of the RNA polymerase ribozyme using RibonanzaNet in state 1 and Eternafold in states 2 and 3.
A new 3-state Replicase challenge has been launched on Eterna and will only be open for two weeks before sequences are collected for experimental testing at the Das Lab. Will Eterna players be able to improve the catalytic activity of the RNA polymerase?
eternagame.org/labs/14183416
@eternagame got single RNAs to compute functions like all logic gates, A>B, and A*B/C^2, relevant for tuberculosis detection! Now looking for partners to scale to complex applications. Collab w/ Greenleaf Khatri labs @christianchoe.bsky.social @stanfordmedicine.bsky.social at
doi.org/10.1038/s415...
Example eight puzzles in the collection including 8ZMH 1TN1 and PKB 398
In addition to the RibonanzaNet server hosted by @rdaslab.bsky.social, RNA structure fans can try the new pseudoknotted prediction model in Eterna's RNet Study collection. The 108 puzzles are a mix of experimentally-validated structures and synthetic fabrications.
eternagame.org/collections/...
Not exactly citizen science, but such a fun way to connect people with Nature.
Long-standing myths about “silly science” have contributed to the reckless slashing of government-supported research.
Celebrate World RNA Day on August 1 with Eterna
In the latest Education Corner, learn about Eterna, an online game which models the base pairing and secondary structure of RNA sequences
cdn.rcsb.org/rcsb-pd...
Blue image of ROOL nanocage made of RNA with text on top noting Eternacon dates as July 26 and 27.
Coming up this weekend, Eternacon will feature presentations about fellow #citsci platform @zooniverse.bsky.social and how participants of both Zooniverse and Eterna have created #machinelearning tools for projects. @noirlabastro.bsky.social
Register for free at eternagame.org/eternacon/2025
Hear directly from Eterna lead developer and Frameshifter director @luxaritas.com at Eternacon this weekend: eternagame.org/eternacon/2025
This is a step that our team has discussed for some time,
and we initially shared our plan to start a new organization with our community a few months ago. We're excited to move forward with this next step in Eterna's governance. Same core staff and a renewed focus on sustaining and growing Eterna.
Meet @frameshifter.org, the new nonprofit program established to steward Eterna's future and advance public engagement in scientific research through games, collective and hybrid intelligence, and human centered design.
Eterna players successfully designed antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) to bind with specific regions of the intron and restore F8 exon 16 splicing. A big thank you to @ucscscience.bsky.social for collaborating with us on this cutting-edge research! #citizenscience @rdaslab.bsky.social
Logo is an RNA nanocage.
Registration for Eterna's annual online conference July 26-27 is open! Come hear from both researchers and players about new approaches to structure-based RNA design and understanding RNA structure. #citsci
Full program and free registration at eternagame.org/eternacon/2025
Summer Newsletter Published
Highlights training events, the Ligand Expo shutdown; accessing IHM data at RCSB PDB, and more. In the Education Corner, learn about Interactive RNA Education with the Eterna Game.
cdn.rcsb.org/rcsb-pd...
Zooniverse taking the lead in using #machinelearning as a tool for participatory science projects.
SHAPE data of a mutated version of PKB364
Looking forward to attending my first Conference for Advancing the Participatory Sciences this week and delivering a presentation during the Scientific Contributions session on how Eterna players created a large dataset of RNA sequences with pseudoknots for machine learning. 🧪
#CAPS2025
Eterna players support the RNA research being performed by academic labs at US universities and strongly believe federal funding of these research programs should be fully restored to maintain America's leadership in both science and biomedical entrepreneurship.
National DNA Day banner
National DNA Day celebrates the completion of the human genome project in 2003 and the discovery of the double helix in 1953. The continuing work of dedicated scientists to learn more about the functioning of genes and RNA in the human body is leading to important advances in medicine.