Sigma-Aldrich Forms RNAi Program With Academia to Distribute, Study TRC Library

NEW YORK, April 24 (GenomeWeb News) - Sigma-Aldrich has created a worldwide "RNAi Partnership Program" with several academic institutions with the aim of distributing data collected by The RNAi Consortium library with the RNAi community, the company said today.

The company, a member of the TRC, said it has signed on four such centers, naming only Rutgers' Bionomics Research and Technologies Core, a collaboration between the university's Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute and Department of Genetics. A company spokesperson declined to name the other three but said Sigma will disclose them in the coming weeks.

The program is "a relationship-building opportunity," the spokesperson said.

As part of the program, scientists from the participating organizations will be given access to a "broad portfolio" of intellectual property, early access to "emerging new technologies," and "special partnership pricing" on a range of Sigma-owned functional genomics and RNAi products, the company said.

Sigma will also offer participating centers early access to "new technologies" developed through the TRC alliance, and enable Sigma-Aldrich scientists to "validate current and emerging RNAi technologies," the company said.

The spokesperson said the program aims to encourage participating centers to share validation data and collaborate with the company.