Messenger RNA (mRNA) News and Research

RSS

Scripps Florida scientist receives grant from Landenberger Foundation for HIV research

A scientist on the Florida campus of The Scripps Research Institute has received funding from the Philadelphia-based Margaret Q. Landenberger Research Foundation.

27 Oct 2010

miRagen and CU enter agreement on miRNA therapeutics discovery and development

miRagen Therapeutics, Inc., a biopharmaceutical company focused on improving patients' lives by developing innovative microRNA (miRNA)-based therapeutics for cardiovascular and muscle disease, and the University of Colorado (CU) announced today that they have entered into sponsored research and licensing agreements to collaborate on miRNA therapeutics discovery and development.

26 Oct 2010

Viral microRNA allows EBV to hide within cells and evade immune system

While most commonly associated with mononucleosis, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) has been linked to many diseases that affect people long after the initial infection takes place, including some forms of cancer. In the current issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, scientists at The Wistar Institute describe how viral microRNA - small segments of RNA that suppress the effects of gene activity - allows EBV to hide within cells and evade the immune system.

26 Oct 2010

Examining genetic material of egg cells may inform about embryos health

Fertility procedures such as in vitro fertilization (IVF) require a couple and the doctor to place the risky bet that the multiple eggs they choose to fertilize will produce an embryo that will thrive in the uterus. Researchers cannot biopsy eggs directly because that would destroy them, but a new discovery by professors at Brown University and Women & Infants Hospital could lead to new insights about how eggs develop and ultimately inform judgments about how the embryos they produce will fare. The idea is to examine the genetic material the egg cells discarded when they were first forming, to see which genes they were expressing.

26 Oct 2010

EPO grants new patent to Silence Therapeutics’ RNAi structural modification technology

Silence Therapeutics plc announces that the European Patent Office (EPO) has granted a new patent that provides broad protection on novel aspects of the RNAi structural modification technology known as the Zamore Design Rules.

20 Oct 2010

Researchers identify new paradigm for regulation of alternative splicing

How a T cell decides to make protein X, Y, or Z can have profound effects for fighting foreign invaders or staving off dire autoimmune reactions. Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine have identified the steps that control how different forms of an immune cell protein called CD45, which is critical for activating the immune system when faced with pathogens, are controlled in the arc of a body's immune response.

18 Oct 2010

Scientists find unexpected function of cell's protein-making machinery

When cells make the proteins that carry out virtually every function of life, it's vital that the right things happen at the right times, and maybe more importantly that wrong things are stopped from happening at the wrong times.

18 Oct 2010

New, affordable technology for cervical cancer screening

Current cervical cancer screening is time consuming and expensive, but now new breakthrough technology developed by European researchers should allow large-range screening by non-medical personnel with almost immediate results and at a much lower cost.

15 Oct 2010

Exiqon introduces on-line microRNA qPCR assay design software

Exiqon A/S, a leading supplier of high-value gene expression analysis products, today announced the extension of the miRCURY LNA microRNA PCR product line with the launch of a novel bioinformatics software for the design of custom qPCR assays for microRNA quantification.

12 Oct 2010

Takeda, Envoy enter three-year research alliance to develop schizophrenia drug

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited, a global pharmaceutical company, and Envoy Therapeutics Inc., a recently formed drug discovery company, today announced that they have formed a three-year research alliance aimed at discovering drugs for schizophrenia that will have greater efficacy and safety compared to current therapies.

11 Oct 2010

Elevated levels of iron in brain enhance brain-destroying plaque production in Alzheimer's patients: Research

Massachusetts General Hospital researchers say they have determined how iron contributes to the production of brain-destroying plaques found in Alzheimer's patients.

7 Oct 2010

Role of TGF-ß in cancer diseases

During this year's BIOTECHNICA exhibition, the international biotech news magazine „GEN - Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News yesterday on 5 October 2010, held an information event with subsequent panel discussion featuring the topic TGF-ß an important target in cancer diseases.

7 Oct 2010

Access Pharmaceuticals reports significant progress in Cobalamin-targeted drug-delivery program for siRNA therapies

ACCESS PHARMACEUTICALS, INC., a biopharmaceutical company leveraging its proprietary drug-delivery platforms to develop treatments in areas of oncology, cancer supportive care and diabetes, announced today that it has made significant progress with its proprietary Cobalamin-targeted drug-delivery program for siRNA therapies.

30 Sep 2010

Researchers unveil mechanism of candida infections

More than half of all people are hosts to Candida albicans in their bodies. This species might be located on their skin or mucous membranes or in the intestines frequently without causing any symptoms. However, it can be dangerous to patients whose immunological system has been weakened such as after organ transplants or chemotherapy with cancer. Then, this fungus penetrates into deeper layers of tissue and uses the blood system to spread throughout the body. In Germany alone, several thousand people die from systemic candida infections every year.

29 Sep 2010

Researchers report MALAT1 gene regulates pre-mRNA splicing in cancer

Researchers report this month that MALAT1, a long non-coding RNA that is implicated in certain cancers, regulates pre-mRNA splicing a critical step in the earliest stage of protein production. Their study appears in the journal Molecular Cell.

24 Sep 2010

Arrowhead increases ownership in Calando Pharmaceuticals through Series A Preferred Stock exchange

Arrowhead Research Corporation today announced that it has increased its ownership of majority owned subsidiary Calando Pharmaceuticals through the exchange of Calando Series A Preferred Stock for Arrowhead warrants.

23 Sep 2010

Santaris Pharma paves way to conduct clinical trial of miravirsen in patients with HVC

Santaris Pharma A/S, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on the discovery and development of RNA-targeted therapies, today announced that it has advanced miravirsen (SPC3649), the first microRNA-targeted drug to enter clinical trials, into Phase 2 studies to assess the safety and tolerability of the drug in treatment-naive patients infected with the Hepatitis C virus.

22 Sep 2010

Blood vessel growth promoting microRNA predicts diabetes: Study

For the first time, scientists have found that blood levels of some ribonucleic acids (microRNAs) are different among people with type 2 diabetes and those who subsequently develop the disease compared to healthy controls, according to research reported in Circulation Research: Journal of the American Heart Association.

17 Sep 2010

New genetic analysis technique isolates culprit gene in families with inherited single-gene kidney diseases

A University of Michigan-led research team has identified a gene responsible in some families for a devastating inherited kidney disorder, thanks to a new, faster method of genetic analysis not available even two years ago. The success offers hope that scientists can speed the painstaking search for the genes responsible for many rare diseases and test drugs to treat them.

17 Sep 2010

Researchers identify interferons may inhibit IL-1b protein production

Among the first is the production of cell factors such as interferons and IL-1beta. Interferons have several functions, including activating a series of intracellular signals such as Tyk2 (Tyrosine kinase 2), while IL-1beta is important for the induction of inflammation, which helps directly to protect the body against attack.

16 Sep 2010