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Dr. Mariano A. Garcia-Blanco is Professor and Chair of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston TX, USA, where he is also Mildred Hajek Vacek and John Roman Vacek Distinguished Chair in Honor of President Truman G. Blocker, Jr. He is also Professor of Emerging Infectious Diseases at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School in Singapore. Professor Garcia-Blanco graduated from Colegio San Ignacio, San Juan, after which he obtained his AB in Biochemical Sciences at Harvard College and his MD and PhD (in Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry) at Yale University. He received postdoctoral training in RNA biology with Nobel laureate Phillip A. Sharp at MIT. From 1990 to 2014 he was at Duke University where he was the Charles D. Watts Professor of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, and Medicine, and Director of the Center for RNA Biology at Duke University in the USA. Professor Garcia-Blanco is an internationally recognized expert in RNA biology and is an author of more than 130 scientific publications. Additionally, he co-founded Intronn Inc. (now VIRxSYS, Rockville, MD, USA) to develop a novel trans-splicing RNA therapy, and Veri-Q Inc. (part of Proteome Sciences plc, Cobham, UK), to commercialize reagents for the quality control of chemically synthesized nucleic acids, and more recently Singapore Advanced Biologics Pte Ltd (SABio). Professor Garcia-Blanco has served as a member of Scientific Advisory Board for European Alternative Splicing Network of Excellence (EU), National Advisory General Medical Sciences Council (NIH, USA), and of the Puerto Rico Trust for Science, Research and Technology. He is currently a member of the Council of Scientific Advisers for the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (United Nations). In 2011 he was elected to the Association of American Physicians (AAP), in 2012 fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and in 2013 fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology.