SAB NewsDirector of The Science Advisory Board to Present RNA Interference Technology InsightsPosted 3/29/2005 Tamara Zemlo, Ph.D., MPH, Executive Director of The Science Advisory Board, will be presenting an overview of RNA interference research opportunities at the Emerging Technologies for Drug Discovery Meeting. Her talk, “RNA Interference Technology: Challenges and Opportunities,” will be presented on April 4, 2005 at 4:40 PM. The meeting takes place at the South San Francisco Conference Center in San Francisco, CA. The phenomenon of RNA interference (RNAi) has rapidly evolved into a powerful technique to silence gene expression in eukaryotic cells. From an evolutionary perspective, RNAi helps protect cells from viruses and transposable genetic elements in addition to carrying out more routine cellular tasks essential to development and growth. As documented in The Science Advisory Board’s study, RNA Interference Technology (2004), many researchers are now using RNAi as a means to study the various aspects of gene regulation in a multitude of biological systems. Over 500 scientists participated in an assessment of the different approaches to activate the RNAi pathway for gene silencing. “The fundamental attraction of RNAi technology is that it permits scientists to observe the metabolic, physiologic and phenotypic changes that occur in a cell during real time due to a specific gene under specific conditions,” observes Tamara Zemlo, Ph.D., MPH, Director of Scientific & Medical Communications for The Science Advisory Board. Following in the footsteps of cloning in the 1980s and PCR in the 1990s, RNAi has the potential to increase the number of scientific questions that can be answered. Overall, the top primary research objective of scientists utilizing RNAi technology is assigning gene function. Much of the technique's popularity is because it allows researchers to study the molecular effects of modulating expression at the level of individual genes. Functionally, this gene silencing occurs through the introduction of small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) that are complementary to the target mRNA into cultured cells, tissues, organs, or even whole organisms. This amazing degree of precision can now be accomplished without the tedious and time-consuming efforts previously dedicated to the construction of single gene knock-outs or dominant negative expressing cell lines. Dr. Zemlo’s talk will provide life science researchers with insights into the types of products and services required to support functional genomics research based upon the experiences and opinions of scientists who currently use siRNA technology. An in-depth look at RNAi experimental design, including model systems, siRNA duplex design, transfection techniques as well as current and future levels of throughput will be presented. This presentation will also closely examine pre-designed, validated and library siRNA duplexes, chemically synthesized custom siRNAs and transfection reagents from the scientist’s perspective. The preferences, needs and expectations of researchers in regard to the refinements needed to existing tools as well as new tools needed to further advance this technology will be outlined. |
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