Metabolism is the foundation of all living organisms. While cells in a population are often phenotypically different, most of our current analytical approaches still probe metabolism only at the population level. Because strong evidence exists that metabolic cell-to-cell heterogeneity has, for instance, disease relevance, researcher from MetaRNA overcame this severe analytical limitation through exploiting opportunities emerging from the RNA field. Such synergy potential between the metabolism and RNA research fields had until today not been exploited, because they were separated from each other in Europe and worldwide. Through consequently missing research training programs we thus lacked experts with combined knowledge in metabolism and RNA. The aim of the MetaRNA proposal was therefore to establish a European Training Network (ETN) that educates specialists for academia and industry - fully trained at the interface of these two fields - in the development and application of RNA-based sensors to investigate metabolism at the single-cell level, to apply these tools for novel biotechnological applications and to provide a framework for their future use in diagnostics and therapeutics. In MetaRNA, eight research groups from the metabolic and RNA fields and six partners from the private sector joined forces to create a platform of mobility and training to 15 early-stage researchers (ESRs), by means of customized research projects, exchange of knowhow among researchers and partners, attendance to specialized courses, workshops and conferences, as well as training in complementary skills.
