The impact and importance of RNA biology have become especially clear during this pandemic period. The rapid gains in vaccine development and understanding of viral biology were however built upon decades of fundamental RNA biology research that has sought to understand the myriad of regulatory processes and networks relating to the life cycle of an RNA: from transcription to RNA processing, nuclear export, localization, translation and eventual degradation. Each of these steps offers a regulatory opportunity that is exploited by the cell and its pathogens alike.