Dr. Berglund is the Director of the RNA Institute and an Empire Professor of Innovation in the Biological Sciences at the University at Albany. He received his BA in Biochemistry from the University of Colorado and his PhD in Biochemistry from Brandeis. He has studied the structure and function of RNA and the mechanisms of splicing throughout his career. He began studying myotonic dystrophy in 2002 when his first undergraduate student at the University of Oregon introduced him to the disease and the impact to his family. His group solved the first atomic resolution structure of the CUG repeats that cause myotonic dystrophy and they have many publications on the mechanisms of splicing in the context of myotonic dystrophy. In 2015, Dr. Berglund was one of the first DM Grant Recipients for his project, “Inhibiting transcription of CUG/CCUG expanded repeats with small molecules”. The Berglund lab has identified several classes of small molecules that rescue the molecular disruptions caused by myotonic dystrophy. The lab is working to understand the mechanisms through which these small molecules function and develop these molecules for future clinical trials for individuals with DM. For more information on Dr. Berglund, click here to visit his lab website.