NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) — Sigma-Aldrich today said Dublin City University will become a member of the company’s RNAi Partnership Program, which will allow the university to use Sigma’s functional genomics portfolio and the shRNA libraries developed by Sigma and The RNAi Consortium.
Ronan Murphy, a researcher at the Vascular Health Research Center at Dublin City University, said the Center will use the consortium's shRNA information and Sigma’s tools to continue its work studying the link between integrin receptor regulation in cells and vascular disease.
Murphy described the center’s work as being highly relevant to other research in areas such as immunology, hematology, cancer, and neurobiology. He added that using the shRNA library will “greatly accelerate our ability to prioritize genes that are functionally relevant” to their research.
Sigma said the team at the VHRC has already begun using the company’s technology and the consortium's libraries.
The Partnership Program is a series of collaborations between Sigma and academic institutions to use, share, and to develop RNAi technologies and intellectual properties, and to study the relationship between gene functioning and disease.
The RNAi Consortium comprises a group of representatives of companies and academic institutions including MIT, Harvard Medical School, Washington University, Novartis, Bristol-Meyers Squibb, and Sigma-Aldrich, among others.