Ramin Shiekhattar, Ph.D., Wistar’s Herbert Kean, M.D., Family Professor, is shedding new light on the genetic unknown with the discovery of how long non-coding RNA (ncRNA) drives how cells “read” genes, transcribing the genetic code into proteins. He and his colleagues believe these long ncRNA molecules may represent so-called gene enhancer elements—short regions of DNA that can boost the amount of proteins a cell makes.