In 1979, Joan Steitz discovered snRNPs, RNAﾖprotein complexes in the cell’s nucleus that perform a crucial step in the transfer of DNA information into messenger RNA (mRNA). This led to greater understanding of autoimmune diseases.

Much of the focus in the splicing field is now on obtaining high-resolution structures of splicing complexes, integrating splicing with other processes, such as transcription, mRNA stability and translation, and in deciphering the myriad ways in which splicing and splice-site choice can be regulated.