Skip to main content
Premium Trial:

Request an Annual Quote

NIH Awards Maverix $150K STTR Grant

NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Maverix Biomics today announced it has won a $150,000 award from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to do research into the detection of modifications in RNA transcripts.

San Mateo, Calif.-based Maverix is collaborating with Eric Phizicky at the University of Rocheste rto develop a high-throughput analytic kit that will enable researchers to detect different kinds of RNA modifications in human cells in neurological disease.

The Small Business Technology Transfer Phase I Award will help fund development of a wet- or dry-lab kit, which will include reagents, a set of experimental manipulations for analyzing modifications, and cloud-based analysis software through the Maverix Analytic Platform.

"We believe it is essential to provide simplified, standardized methods, which include both innovative molecular detection chemistries, as well as straight-forward data analytics so any RNA sample can be scrutinized for new biological discoveries," Todd Lowe, chief scientist for Maverix, said in a statement.  "High-throughput sequencing has become commonplace thanks to high-quality sample preparation kits, and we believe we can advance the state of the art in RNA modification research similarly with this project."

The Scan

ChatGPT Does As Well As Humans Answering Genetics Questions, Study Finds

Researchers in the European Journal of Human Genetics had ChatGPT answer genetics-related questions, finding it was about 68 percent accurate, but sometimes gave different answers to the same question.

Sequencing Analysis Examines Gene Regulatory Networks of Honeybee Soldier, Forager Brains

Researchers in Nature Ecology & Evolution find gene regulatory network differences between soldiers and foragers, suggesting bees can take on either role.

Analysis of Ashkenazi Jewish Cohort Uncovers New Genetic Loci Linked to Alzheimer's Disease

The study in Alzheimer's & Dementia highlighted known genes, but also novel ones with biological ties to Alzheimer's disease.

Tara Pacific Expedition Project Team Finds High Diversity Within Coral Reef Microbiome

In papers appearing in Nature Communications and elsewhere, the team reports on findings from the two-year excursion examining coral reefs.