Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) are key molecules in many complex biological processes, from gene regulation to translation. This complexity has led to an explosion of specialised databases. Rfam and RNAcentral, hosted at EMBL-EBI, provide access to a collection of non-coding RNA families and ncRNA sequences, respectively.

This webinar will show you how to effectively search and access data in Rfam and RNAcentral using their APIs. We will demonstrate how to download data for downstream analysis and how to use the sequence search and R2DT to search sequences and visualise RNA secondary structure, powered by EMBL-EBI Web Services.

Who is this course for?

This webinar is aimed at people interested in non-coding RNAs. We assume an undergraduate-level familiarity with computational biology. Experience with the command line is required.

Outcomes

By the end of the webinar, you will be able to:

• Search data in Rfam and RNAcentral via their REST APIs
• Retrieve and download ncRNA sequence data programmatically
• Submit a sequence to the RNAcentral sequence search and the R2DT API

DOI: 10.6019/TOL.rfam-rna-central-apis-w.2026.00001.1