RNAi Library to Be a Public Resource

A three-year project to establish an RNAi (RNA interference) library that targets genes linked to environmentally related diseases has recently been funded with a grant of U.S.$3 million.

RNAi is also known as antisense RNA. The antisense approach to gene silencing involves injecting an organism with an RNA sequence complementary to messenger RNA (mRNA) transcribed from a target gene. The antisense RNA hybridizes with the sense mRNA and the double-stranded (DS) molecule blocks translation and production of an encoded protein. The presence of the dsRNA duplex led to what is now recognized as an RNA interference effect.

The work to develop the library's collection will be carried out by Icoria (Research Triangle Park, NC, USA), a biotechnology company that applies its proprietary systems biology platform to the discovery of safer, more effective drugs and agrichemicals. Once established, the library will be a resource available to the scientific community administered by the [U.S.] National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS) National Center for Toxicogenomics (Research Triangle Park, NC, USA).

"It is a rapid and powerful new tool to augment more traditional and time-consuming methods to accomplish our goal of verifying disease pathways,” said Dr. Kenneth Olden, director of the NIEHS. "We are very pleased to carry out this important work that will benefit the entire scientific community by making the information available to the public.”




Related Links:
Icoria
[U.S.] NIEHS Nat'l Center for Toxicogenomics