Ribonucleic acid (RNA) was once thought to exist in a stable form only inside cells, where it served as an intermediate in the translation from genes to proteins. However, recent research has indicated that RNAs can play a role in a variety of complex cellular functions, including newly discovered mechanisms of cell-to-cell communication. RNA can be exported from cells in extracellular vesicles or bound to lipids or proteins, to circulate through the body and affect cells at a great distance. These extracellular RNAs, or “exRNAs,” may also be absorbed from food, the microbes that live in our bodies, or the environment, potentially eliciting a variety of biological responses. However, the actual impact of these exRNAs is not known. An opportunity exists to establish entirely new paradigms of intercellular and inter-species information exchange based on the release, transport, uptake, and regulatory role of exRNAs.

In response to this opportunity, which was identified through the Common Fund strategic planning process (click here for an overview), the Common Fund launched the Extracellular RNA Communication Consortium (ERCC). The goals of the ERC consortium are to discover fundamental biological principles about the mechanisms of exRNA generation, secretion, and transport; to identify and develop a catalog of exRNA found in normal human body fluids; and to investigate the potential for using exRNAs in the clinic as therapeutic molecules or biomarkers of disease.

For more information on the ERC consortium, please see this NIH page.

Consortium Seminars

To provide the scientific community with a better understanding of the work of the ERC consortium, we will periodically post here videos of web seminars presented by consortium members and other researchers in the field.

Comparison of exRNA isolation methods reveals that biofluids contain multiple distinct exRNA compartments

Srimeenakshi Srinivasan, UC San Diego Department of Reproductive Medicine

Consortium member

ERCC Seminar Series

07 June 2018

Salivary exRNA and a New Horizon in Dental, Oral and Craniofacial Biology

David Wong, UCLA

Consortium member

ERCC Seminar Series

01 March 2018

Exosomes and exRNA: Modulating Cellular Transcriptome and Regeneration

Susmita Sahoo, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NY

Guest speaker

ERCC Seminar Series

04 January 2018

Robust biomarker selection from RT-qPCR data using statistical consensus criteria

Jack Wiedrick, Oregon Health & Science University

Consortium member

ERCC Seminar Series

07 December 2017

KRAS-dependent sorting of miRNA into exosomes

James Patton, Vanderbilt

Consortium member

ERCC Seminar Series

05 October 2017

Aging affects extracellular RNA and extracellular vesicles

Nicole Noren Hooten, National Institute on Aging

Guest speaker

ERCC Seminar Series

07 September 2017

The publication "Extracellular RNA profiles with human age" (Dluzen et al., Aging Cell 2018) provides greater detail about the topics discussed in the seminar.