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Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a biologically important type of molecule that consists of a long chain of nucleotide units. Each nucleotide consists of a nitrogenous base, a ribose sugar, and a phosphate.

Scientists receive $3 million from NIH to uncover how plants make medicinal compounds

Scientists at Michigan State University are receiving nearly $3 million from the National Institutes of Health to uncover how several popular plants make medicinal compounds.

6 Nov 2009

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals presents new data related to its overall delivery research efforts

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that it presented new data related to its overall delivery research efforts including the rational design of Mimetic Lipoprotein Particles, or MLPs, a novel technology for the systemic delivery of small interfering RNAs, or siRNAs, the molecules that mediate RNAi.

5 Nov 2009

Tetracycline-like compound raises hope for treatment of spinal muscular atrophy

A chemical cousin of the common antibiotic tetracycline might be useful in treating spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), a currently incurable disease that is the leading genetic cause of death in infants. This is the finding of a research collaboration involving Adrian Krainer, Ph.D., of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) and scientists from Paratek Pharmaceuticals and Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science.

5 Nov 2009

Medivir presents OPERA-1 Phase IIa trial data at the AASLD meeting

Data were presented from the phase IIa trial (OPERA-1) for TMC435 at the ongoing 60th annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases in Boston, USA.

4 Nov 2009

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals and Roche team up to develop specific RNAi therapeutic products

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today that it has advanced to the RNAi therapeutic collaboration stage of its landmark alliance with Roche formed in 2007.

4 Nov 2009

Findings may lead to new drug therapies to reduce breast cancer metastasis

Researchers have reduced breast cancer metastasis to bone using an experimental agent to inhibit ROCK, a protein that was found to be over-expressed in metastatic breast cancer.

4 Nov 2009

Sigma-Aldrich, Polyplus-transfection sign licensing agreement to manufacture ZNA oligonucleotides

Sigma-Aldrich today announced a worldwide licensing agreement with Polyplus-transfection (Strasbourg, France) to manufacture and commercialize Zip Nucleic Acid (ZNA(TM)) oligonucleotides, a new technology that provides solutions for increased affinity for nucleic acids.

3 Nov 2009

Arrowhead Research updates its shareholders

Arrowhead Research Corporation’s (NASDAQ: ARWR) President and Chief Executive Officer today issued the following letter to the Company’s shareholders.

3 Nov 2009

Akonni Biosystems announces worldwide launch of their TruTip product line

Akonni Biosystems, a molecular diagnostic (MDx) company focused on providing rapid and highly scalable solutions for research and infectious disease testing, today announced the worldwide launch of their TruTip product line for extracting DNA and RNA from samples with volumes ranging from 100 µl to 1000 µl or more.

3 Nov 2009

Pateamine A found to inhibit yet another anti-cancer mechanism

Pateamine A (PatA), a natural product first isolated from marine sponges, has attracted considerable attention as a potential anti-cancer agent, and now a new activity has been found for it, which may reveal yet another anti-cancer mechanism. That's the assessment of Daniel Romo, a Texas A&M chemistry professor, and his colleagues at Johns Hopkins University who are pioneers in research involving this novel marine natural product.

3 Nov 2009

Interim data from Schering-Plough's narlaprevir Phase IIa study

Schering-Plough Corporation reported that interim results from an ongoing Phase IIa study of narlaprevir (SCH 900518), its investigational, once-daily protease inhibitor, demonstrated potent antiviral activity in treatment-naive patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 1.

3 Nov 2009

Avila Therapeutics presents preclinical study data of its AVL-181 HCV protease inhibitor

Avila Therapeutics™, Inc., a biotechnology company developing novel covalent drugs that treat diseases through protein silencing, presented results of preclinical studies on its highly selective, small molecule Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) protease inhibitor, AVL-181. Avila showed that AVL-181 promoted complete viral clearance in vitro when used at clinically-relevant concentrations in combination with other HCV therapies.

2 Nov 2009

BMY and ZGen present Phase 1B results for PEG-Interferon lambda in HCV patients

Bristol-Myers Squibb Company and ZymoGenetics, Inc. today presented final results from a Phase 1b clinical trial of PEG-Interferon lambda administered with ribavirin in relapsed and treatment-naïve hepatitis C virus (HCV) patients.

2 Nov 2009

Shire announces third quarter 2009 financial results

Shire plc, the global specialty biopharmaceutical company, announces results for the three months to September 30, 2009.

31 Oct 2009

Viral protein could be a major player in SARS virulence

Ever since the previously unknown SARS virus emerged from southern China in 2003, University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston virologists have focused on finding the source of the pathogen's virulence - its ability to cause disease. In the 2003 epidemic, for example, between 5 and 10 percent of those who fell sick from the SARS virus died, adding up to more than 900 fatalities worldwide.

30 Oct 2009

Researchers discover new bend in gene control

Since the completion of the human genome sequence, a question has baffled researchers studying gene control: How is it that humans, being far more complex than the lowly yeast, do not proportionally contain in our genome significantly more gene-control proteins?

30 Oct 2009

New anti-cancer medications may help in managing cancerous conditions

Bold new strategies in the battle against cancer may turn forms of the disease that presently are incurable into manageable conditions that can be controlled for long periods of time, according to an article in the current issue of Chemical & Engineering News, ACS' weekly newsmagazine.

29 Oct 2009

MolecularMD moves core operations to expanded facility

MolecularMD Corp announced today that it has moved their core operations to a expanded dedicated facility with capacity and functionality to support the expansion of its cancer molecular diagnostics business.

28 Oct 2009

Arrayit sells NanoPrint Microarrayer system to CENAT

Arrayit Corporation today announced the sale of a system to the Center of Excellence for Nucleic Acid-Based Technologies (CENAT) in Poznan, Poland. The Arrayit NanoPrint Microarrayer will be used by CENAT for scientific and medical collaborations throughout the prosperous democracy.

28 Oct 2009

Quark Pharmaceuticals receives a Japanese patent for its hypoxia regulated genes

Quark Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a development-stage pharmaceutical company discovering and developing novel RNA interference (RNAi)-based therapeutics, today announced issuance of Japanese Patent Number: 4354633, titled, "Hypoxia regulated genes," on August 7, 2009.

27 Oct 2009