The project is being undertaken in collaboration with Sam Gunderson and Rafal Goraczniak at SilaGene (Hillsborough, NJ), a newly formed biotechnology company working on U1 Adapter therapeutics.
IDT claimed that U1 adapters are capable of down-regulating the expression of genes of interest at the pre-mRNA stage, via a mechanism of action distinct from antisense or siRNA. Based on oligos annealing to a specific region within the 3’-terminal exon of a gene, even RNAi refractory genes can be successfully silenced.
Additionally, IDT said that the mechanism utilised by the U1 adapters enable it to be used additively with existing gene technologies, or individually to target genes that have not responded well to RNAi-based techniques.
The work is being undertaken in collaboration with Dr Sam Gunderson and Dr Rafal Goraczniak at SilaGene (Hillsborough, NJ), a newly formed biotechnology company working on U1 Adapter therapeutics.
Mark Behlke, CSO of IDT, said: “This Phase II funding has enabled us to continue with the development of this exciting new technology. We believe that it will make a significant addition to the gene silencing toolkit and may even aid emerging oligonucleotide-based therapies.”