Decoding, Harnessing, and Intervening in RNA Pathways

RNA is not only a carrier of genetic information, but also a central regulatory factor governing cellular function and cell fate determination. With the increasingly detailed understanding of RNA structure, modifications, interactions, and dynamic regulatory mechanisms, RNA biology is entering a new stage—from the discovery of underlying principles to precise manipulation. This presentation will focus on our recent studies on the decoding, harnessing, and intervening in RNA pathways. We will highlight a series of advances spanning theoretical frameworks, in situ characterization, and engineered manipulation, including a novel genetic principle underlying the cross-species functional conservation of long noncoding RNAs; in situ dual-omics technologies enabling simultaneous profiling of RNA-binding protein targets and transcriptomes at single-cell resolution; a low-perturbation platform for monitoring noncoding RNA transcriptional activity; and precision intervention strategies integrating artificial intelligence, genome editing, and chemical small molecules. These findings have been published in Nature Methods, Nature Structural & Molecular Biology, Nature Biotechnology, and Nature Genetics, among others. Through selected case studies, this talk will discuss key scientific questions in RNA biology, the logic of technological innovation, and their future applications in life sciences and biomedicine.