Thermo Fisher Scientific awards more than US$400,000 in RNAi Discovery Grants
Thermo Fisher Scientific has chosen five projects to receive awards in its RNAi Discovery Grants programme, based on the potential of the research to advance science and medicine.
Thermo Fisher Scientific has chosen five projects to receive awards in its RNAi Discovery Grants programme, based on the potential of the research to advance science and medicine.
The recipients will receive various siRNA, shRNA and microRNA reagents from the Dharmacon and Open Biosystems RNAi technology portfolios, marketed under the Thermo Scientific brand.
Borden Lacy, assistant professor, and Terence Dermody, professor of paediatrics, microbiology and immunology at Vanderbilt University, will receive a genome small-interfering RNA (siRNA) screening package to investigate pathogen cell entry. They hope to identify host proteins that form networks required for diverse microbial pathogens (viruses and bacterial exotoxins) to enter living cells.
Roger Lippe, associate professor in the Department of Pathology and Cell Biology at the University of Montreal, will receive a custom siRNA sub-library targeting human genes. He will use this to identify cellular proteins interacting with HSV-1 (herpes simplex virus type 1).
Caitlin Conboy, graduate student and David Largaespada, professor of the Masonic Cancer Centre and Centre for Genome Engineering, University of Minnesota, will receive a custom short-hairpin RNA (shRNA) sub-library targeting human genes. Using results from a transposon-based genetic screen, they will use shRNA to validate genes required for generation and growth of tumours in colorectal cancer.
Christopher Lord, senior staff scientist, and Alan Ashworth, professor and director of the Breakthrough Breast Cancer Research Centre at The Institute of Cancer Research in London, will receive a microRNA (miRNA) library to optimise new cancer drugs that show promise in treating certain types of breast and ovarian cancer.
The fifth recipient, Xiaofeng Zhou, assistant professor at the University of Illinois in Chicago, will receive a miRNA library to identify microRNAs that contribute to enhanced cancer cell invasion and migration.
"These RNAi screening technologies will help accelerate important biological discoveries that may lead to better treatments for some of the most devastating diseases facing humanity," said Mitchell Kennedy, vice president and general manager of Thermo Scientific Genomics.