European Researchers to Use RNAi for Cell Division Study Funded with EUR 8.5M from EU

NEW YORK, July 16 (GenomeWeb News) - A consortium of European researchers has received €8.5 million in funding from the European Union to study cell division, in part by using RNA interference, the European Molecular Biology Laboratory said yesterday.

The project, called MitoCheck, includes researchers at EMBL, the Max Planck Institute of Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden, the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, and nine other research institutes in Austria, Germany, Italy, France, and the UK.

EMBL scientists plan to study the effects on cell division of suppressing 20,000 genes, one by one, using RNA interference. The MPI in Dressden will provide a library of RNAi molecules. Other partners in the project will use the information to determine the biological regulation of cell division genes.

The funding comes from the European Commission's 6^th Framework Program.