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UAlbany RNA Institute Begins Collaborations with Wadsworth Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic

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The University at Albany this week announced that scientists from its RNA Institute have begun collaborating with researchers from the Wadsworth Center of the New York State Department of Health and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to advance new biomedical technologies.

The RNA Institute was founded in 2010 as a “national research resource for RNA basic fundamental science and RNA technology development in areas that will support biomedical science, drug discovery, and diagnostics,” according to its director, Paul Agris (GSN 12/13/2012).

In line with this, the institute has begun working with the Wadsworth Center and Rensselaer through its interdisciplinary pilot program in order to “identify early-stage, interdisciplinary research that holds potential to generate external research funding or commercial applications,” it said.

Among the new collaborations are ones between UAlbany researchers Daniele Fabris and Wadsworth's Joan Curcio, who are studying Ty1RNA, an RNA molecule potentially involved in cancer and aging; Agris and Wadsworth's Kathleen McDonough, focused on developing a new class of antibiotics for drug-resistant bacteria; UAlbany's Igor Lednev and Rensselaer's Angel Garcia, who are developing ultraviolet resonance Raman spectroscopy technology for RNA structure characterization; and between UAlbany's Pan Li and Gracia studying RNA folding and interactions.

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