RNAi News and Research

RSS

Mosquitoes can rapidly learn and remember the smell of hosts, study shows

Your grandmother's insistence that you receive more bug bites because you're 'sweeter' may not be that far-fetched after all, according to pioneering research from Virginia Tech scientists.

25 Jan 2018

Regeneron forms consortium to accelerate largest widely-available human sequencing resource

By the end of 2019, Regeneron plans to sequence the exomes of all 500,000 people within the UK Biobank resource, all with associated health records, creating an unprecedented resource linking human genetic variations to human biology and disease.

9 Jan 2018

KU Leuven researchers find that humans have lost ancient defense mechanism to combat viruses

Insects and plants have an important ancient defense mechanism that helps them to fight viruses. This is encoded in their DNA. Scientists have long assumed that vertebrates - including humans - also had this same mechanism. But researchers at KU Leuven, Belgium, have found that vertebrates lost this particular asset in the course of their evolution.

15 Sep 2017

Could the mTOR pathway be used to protect against cancer?

The mTOR pathway is probably the main pathway in humans and other animals that drives growth. That is, the accumulation of mass and adding mass to make an organism bigger by both making more cells, and making cells grow and become bigger.

22 Jun 2017

Genetic manipulation of exosomes may offer new therapeutic approach to treating pancreatic cancer

Genetic manipulation of exosomes, virus-sized particles released by all cells, may offer a new therapeutic approach to treating pancreatic cancer, according to a study at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center.

8 Jun 2017

Leti's New Deal project could revolutionize IBD therapies for great benefit of patients in the European Union

Leti, a technology research institute of CEA Tech, today announced a European Union project to develop a nanotherapy targeting the molecules involved in inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis.

12 May 2017

New research could lead to improved therapies for global parasitic disease

Recently published research from Iowa State University biomedical scientists details new methods for studying a parasitic nematode that sickens millions worldwide, a development that could lead to improved therapies.

9 May 2017

Scientists reveal novel drug delivery approach to fight swine flu at gene level

Scientists from Tomsk Polytechnic University together with their colleagues from St. Petersburg and London have elaborated a new approach to deliver anti-viral RNAi to target cells against H1N1 influenza virus infection.

28 Mar 2017

New gene-silencing drugs cut cholesterol levels by half in early research

The first in a new class of gene-silencing drugs, known as inclisiran, has been shown to halve cholesterol levels in patients at risk of cardiovascular disease.

21 Mar 2017

Using Spherical Nucleic Acids to Track and Treat Disease

Spherical nucleic acids are structures that are made by taking a nanoparticle template and using chemistry to arrange short strands of DNA or RNA on the surface of those particles. The spherical core of the nanoparticle creates a spherical arrangement of DNA or RNA, similar to tiny little balls of nucleic acids.

From Pittcon 1 Mar 2017

New RNAi treatment safely blocks ocular inflammation in mice

Scientists have developed a new RNA interference therapeutic agent that safely blocked ocular inflammation in mice, potentially making it a new treatment for human uveitis and diabetic retinopathy.

14 Feb 2017

Researchers use CRISPR-based genetic screening to identify three promising HIV treatment targets

Investigators from Whitehead Institute, the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard have used CRISPR-Cas9 gene-editing technology to identify three promising new targets for treatment of HIV infection.

20 Dec 2016

UC Riverside scientists identify mechanism that creates immunity to influenza A virus

A team of researchers, co-led by a University of California, Riverside professor, has found a long-sought-after mechanism in human cells that creates immunity to influenza A virus, which causes annual seasonal epidemics and occasional pandemics.

5 Dec 2016

IWGAV establishes strategic recommendations for validating antibody specificity

The International Working Group on Antibody Validation, an independent group of international scientists with diverse research interests in the field of protein biology, today announced the publication of initial strategies developed to address a critical unmet need for antibody specificity, functionality and reproducibility in the September online issue of Nature Methods.

8 Sep 2016

RNA silencing technique developed by spinoff from UM-Madison effective in battling hepatitis B

A method for "silencing" RNA that emerged from a University of Wisconsin-Madison spinoff company is in clinical trials in Europe, Asia and the United States against hepatitis B, an infection that can destroy the liver.

11 Aug 2016

Researchers demonstrate important functional role of lincRNA in immune system

A long non-coding RNA (lincRNA) - called lincRNA-EPS - responsible for regulating innate immunity has been identified by a team of scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School.

14 Jul 2016

Alnylam reports new results from investigational RNAi therapeutic programs

Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALNY), the leading RNAi therapeutics company, announced today preliminary results from its ongoing Phase 2 open-label extension (OLE) studies with patisiran and revusiran, both investigational RNAi therapeutics targeting transthyretin (TTR) for the treatment of hereditary TTR-mediated amyloidosis (hATTR amyloidosis).

6 Jul 2016

First CRISPR/Cas9 screen helps identify human proteins required for Zika virus replication

Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School have performed the first CRISPR/Cas9 screen to discover human proteins that Zika virus needs for replication.

22 Jun 2016

RVFV uses cancer pathway to hijack host cell and cause infection

Viruses can't live without us -- literally. As obligate parasites, viruses need a host cell to survive and grow. Scientists are exploiting this characteristic by developing therapeutics that close off pathways necessary for viral infection, essentially stopping pathogens in their tracks.

17 Jun 2016

High-throughput RNA interference screen identifies potential drug target against henipaviruses

The closely related Hendra and Nipah viruses (referred to jointly as henipaviruses) are deadly cousins of the more common mumps, measles, and respiratory syncytial viruses, all members of the paramyxovirus family. Henipavirus outbreaks are on the rise, but little is known about them, partly because research has to be conducted under extreme level containment conditions.

28 Mar 2016