Editorial Thomas A. Cooper - The Messenger No. 3

Dear colleagues,

It’s happened, Daniel Schümperli has officially retired. Daniel’s research contributions have spanned nearly four decades and advanced many areas of RNA biology including histone 3’ end formation, U7 snRNP biology, roles for RNA processing in disease, and development of U7 snRNA for redirected splicing. Daniel’s career shows the ideal trajectory from basic science to the application of knowledge gained for therapeutic approaches. In addition to Daniel’s legacy of discovery, he has the legacy of having trained the next generation of scientists. Daniel is also an outstanding leader who provides a calm “on target” perspective from which the organization benefits. As researcher, mentor, and leader, Daniel’s impact on individuals and institutions continues. In this regard it is highly appropriate that Daniel’s Farewell Symposium in June was titled, “RNA and Beyond”. So how can Daniel be replaced? Well, quite frankly, for the reasons noted above, he can’t. But while “things” are replaced to function as the predecessor, this is not so for leaders. The good news is that Daniel’s retirement presents an excellent opportunity to bring in a prominent RNA biologist to contribute to the longterm growth of the NCCR. The search for a successor at the University of Bern is underway and the se- lection of Mihaela Zavolan as leader of Work Package 2 is outstanding. The coming year will be one of transition and continued growth as new members, and particularly new leadership, integrates and enhances the network’s investigations into the multiple facets of RNA and disease.