With the advance of new technologies in DNA and RNA sequencing and the "omics" studies, it became clear that only up to 2% of the eukaryotic genome consist of protein-coding sequence despite the fact that >90% of the eukaryotic genome is transcribed. The large portion of transcribed RNA will comprise ribosomal RNAs, transfer RNAs and non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). The research in Ataide's lab focus on structural and mechanistic studies of eukaryotic RNA-protein complexes (RNPs) and ncRNAs involved in cell maintenance processes. Using X-ray crystallography, biophysical, biochemical and cell biology approaches we aim to understand the complex functional life of the ncRNAs