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RNA biologist, industry executive and science communicator Melissa Moore will take center stage as a featured speaker at the ͵ÅÄ͵¿ú and ͵ÅÄ͵¿ú Biology’s 2025 Annual Meeting, sharing her groundbreaking insights into RNA biology and therapeutics. A pioneering scientist and former Chief Scientific Officer at Moderna, Moore has played a key role in advancing messenger RNA, or mRNA, –based medicine and shaping the future of biotechnology.

At ASBMB 2025, she will discuss how persistence and serendipity helped define her career and why understanding poker fundamentals can up your scientific game.

Melissa Moore

After obtaining her Ph.D. in biological chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she pursued postdoctoral research with , a Nobel laureate who discovered . During her postdoctoral research, Moore developed innovative techniques for site-specific modification of pre-mRNA, a technology that bridges long molecules of RNA.

As an early career scientist, Moore conducted research at , Waltham, Massachusetts, where her group explored the inner workings of RNA assembly, function and degradation. She revealed the activity and structural assembly of the spliceosome, which acts like a pair of molecular scissors to cut out unnecessary regions within newly transcribed genes to produce mature messenger RNA. Her work provided important insights into cellular quality control pathways.  

After 13 years with Brandies University, Moore joined the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School. Here, she focused on developing RNA-based therapeutics for preeclampsia, a life-threatening blood pressure disorder that affects of pregnant individuals, including . She designed a small interfering RNA molecule targeting the soluble Flt1 proteins, which can cause abnormal placental blood vessel development. One of these drugs, , is currently in clinical trials and received a Fast Track designation from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

David Goodsell via

Moore studied the spliceosome, which acts like a pair of molecular scissors to cut out unnecessary regions within newly transcribed genes to produce mature messenger RNA, during her early career. The image shows a yeast spliceosome captured after the RNA splicing reaction has occurred, with the intron shown in yellow. Proteins are in blue and green, and spliceosome RNA molecules are in magenta and pink.

In 2016, Moore became the Chief Scientific Officer of Platform Research at , where she and her team helped develop Moderna’s mRNA-based vaccine against . In addition, she helped petition the FDA for an emergency use authorization during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic

In 2021, Moore shifted her focus to scientific communication, with the goal of explaining science to academics and lay people alike. Moore’s TED talk, “,” ranked among the top 10 most-watched in 2022.

Moore is an elected member of the National Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, winner of the 2011 ASBMB William C. Rose Award and winner of the 2021 RNA Society Lifetime Achievement Award. She has co-founded multiple biotech companies, including Via Scientific and Kerna Labs, sits on the boards of nChroma Bio and Tessera Therapeutics and serves in multiple consulting roles.