My research entered the RNA world when I joined the EMBL Heidelberg. During my doctoral and postdoctoral research I had focused on developing and applying solution NMR methods and studied protein structure and dynamics of the Bcl family proteins, which are important regulators of apoptosis. When I set up my own group at EMBL in 1997 I became quickly interested in the exciting research on RNA and its various roles in the regulation of gene expression. At EMBL I had the pleasure of meeting great and inspiring colleagues and RNA researchers, such as Juan Valcárcel, Elisa Izaurralde, Elena Conti, Stephen Cusack, Bertrand Seraphin, Anne Ephrussi, Matthias Hentze, and Iain Mattaj. I realized that there is much unexplored ground towards understanding the structural basis of protein–RNA interactions in gene regulation. So, my group started to work on elucidating how proteins recognize RNA and how these interactions regulate biological function. In these days the RNA journal has been my entry to the RNA world and it remains an essential resource for exciting original research and insightful reviews on emerging topics.