Next-generation sequencing is uncovering a vast array of noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) that may form a whole new class of RNAs that affect transcription. The Yale laboratory of Joan Steitz, who is also a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator, a longtime ASCB member, and a founder of RNA biology, wanted to track the interaction pathway of one of these ncRNAs from the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), EBV-encoded RNA2 (EMER2). It was known to interact in the host with a transcription factor boxed protein 5 (PAX5) but exactly how wasn’t clear. Using mass spectrometry protein analysis, the Yale researchers, including Nara Lee, Theresa Yaris, and Jessica Gao, found three intermediates—a splicing factor, an octimer-binding protein, and an RNA binding motif protein—between viral EMER2 and the host’s PAX5. In a paper just published in PNAS, the researchers say that this approach demonstrates how the precise interactions of this emerging class of ncRNAs can be tracked.