The interior of a cell is packed with proteins and nucleic acids, such as RNA, all of which need to perform specific functions at the exact right time. If they don’t, serious diseases—ALS, Huntington’s or many cancers—can result. But what exactly is happening inside the crowded cell when it malfunctions, and how can these miscues be prevented?

Thanks to a pair of chemists at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, a new publicly available tool called iConRNA provides an unrivaled look at the mysterious world RNA, and could help solve the mystery of how devastating diseases develop.

The research is published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.