HP OnGuard siRNA design uses an artificial neural network to select highly potent siRNAs and stringent homology analysis to ensure specificity. Additional features include design of siRNAs to target the most up-to-date sequences from the National Center for Biotechnology Information, 3' UTR/seed region analysis, SNP avoidance, and interferon motif avoidance, according to Qiagen.
siRNA design is reinforced using results from Qiagen’s validation project in which thousands of siRNAs have been tested for effectiveness by RT-PCR. In addition, data from Affymetrix GeneChip analysis is used to minimize the potential for off-target effects.
Rat druggable genome siRNAs are provided as individual siRNAs or pools. Either two or four individual siRNAs can be ordered for each gene at 0.25 nmol or 1 nmol scales allowing independent confirmation of phenotypes with multiple siRNAs, Qiagen said. Alternatively, pools of two or four siRNAs can be ordered at a total of 0.5 nmol or 1 nmol respectively.