Companies Partner to Develop siRNA Library

A partnership to co-develop and commercialize the first human genome-wide library of short interfering RNA molecules (siRNAs), used in gene silencing, has been announced by Cenix BioScience GmbH (Dresden, Germany) and Ambion, Inc. (Austin, TX, USA).

RNA-mediated interference (RNAi) is accelerating the functional characterization of disease-prevalent genes for drug discovery and basic research efforts. Genome-wide siRNA libraries represent a powerful new tool for fulfilling the promise of the Human Genome Project and molecular medicine initiatives in all disease areas by enabling the efficient and systematic identification of novel therapeutic genes. The systematic genome-scale application of RNAi was pioneered by the founders of Cenix. The company is now using proprietary algorithms to design fully optimized siRNA reagents that will enable high-throughput genome-wide screening in human cells.

Ambion, which develops, produces, and distributes RNA-based research products, will manufacture the reagents and market them to its extensive international customer base. The two companies are committed to regularly updating the siRNA library in accordance with the evolution of human genome sequence annotations. The siRNA family resulting from the partnership will include comprehensive libraries to cover the entire genome, the "druggable” genome, as well as validated siRNA collections to target specific gene families, and specific genes.

"We expect the discovery of new drug targets via genome-wide RNAi screening in human cells to drive a very wide and fast-growing range of biomedical research for years to come,” said Dr. Christophe Echeverri, CEO of Cenix.





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