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RNA binding proteins are a large and varied group of factors that are the driving force behind post-transcriptional gene regulation. By analogy with transcription factors, RNA binding proteins bind to various regions of the mRNAs that they regulate, usually upstream or downstream from the coding region, and modulate one of the five major processes in mRNA metabolism: splicing, polyadenylation, export, translation and decay. The most abundant RNA binding protein domain is called the RNA Recognition Motif (RRM)1. It is probably safe to say that an RRM-containing protein is making some contact with an mRNA throughout its existence. The transcriptional counterpart would likely be the histones, yet the multitude of specific functions that are results of RRM based interactions belies the universality of the motif. This complex and diverse application of a single protein motif was used as the basis to develop an advanced graduate level seminar course in RNA:protein interactions. The course, utilizing a learner-centered empowerment model, was developed to dissect each step in RNA metabolism from the perspective of an RRM containing protein. This provided a framework to discuss the development of specificity for the RRM for each required process., (Copyright © 2008 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.)

Many interdisciplinary Ph.D. programs admit students of different educational backgrounds who receive a first year of a general curriculum education. However, student preparation for this curriculum varies, and methods are needed to provide academic support. Graduate student peer tutoring was piloted as an initiative funded by a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Initiative for Minority Student Development award to the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School (UMDNJ-RWJMS) and is now offered to all students in the interdisciplinary Molecular Biosciences Ph.D. program between Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and UMDNJ-RWJMS. Tutoring occurs individually or in small groups and has grown over the past 5 years in the number of students tutored and hours of tutoring. The program was evaluated by surveying and interviewing both tutors and students concerning process variables (e.g. awareness, frequency) and impact variables (e.g. perceived benefits, motivators), as well as by assessing changes in exam scores for the four core courses of the first-year graduate curriculum., (Copyright © 2005 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.)