Topics: This workshop will explore the frontiers of nucleic acid chemistry in its broadest sense. Topics will include chemical modification of DNA and RNA, catalysis mediated by nucleic acids, mechanisms of enzymes acting upon nucleic acids, design of nucleic acid analogs for biomedical or bioanalytical applications, and supramolecular assemblies of nucleic acids for sensors or computing. Presentations will further explore chemical approaches used to study aspects of cellular nucleic acid transactions such as DNA replication, repair and transcription, RNA splicing and translation, epigenetics or genome engineering as well as the mechanisms of drugs targeting DNA or RNA. Participants will be chosen to represent not only a broad selection of topics, but also a selection of expertise ranging from analytical, physical and theoretical chemistry to organic, inorganic and biological chemistry. Invited participants will be at various stages of their academic (or industrial) careers, and hail from a broad geographical cross-section of North America, Europe, Asia or elsewhere. Special efforts will be made to include junior faculty and underrepresented populations.

Format: Each participant will give a 30-minute presentation with 15 additional minutes for discussion, with M-F sessions to be held at the whim of Mother Nature, reserving the more clement periods for informal discussions on the mountainsides. The schedule will be kept flexible; no proceedings will be published. Participants will be expected to attend for the entire week.