NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – SomaGenics has been awarded a two-year, $1.8 million Phase II Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Institutes of Health to further develop its Real-Seq platform for next-generation sequencing of small RNAs.
The award will allow the firm to further refine its RealSeq-AC library construction approach, including streamlining workflow, increasing yield, and broadening utility to include RNA species such as tRNAs, fragments of mRNAs, and long noncoding RNAs, the firm said in a statement.
The Real-Seq platform also includes a novel system for targeted sequencing which is funded by a separate NIH SBIR grant. SomaGenics also recently received an award to develop technology to quantify mRNA from degraded samples.
"This additional funding will allow us to continue expanding and optimizing the RealSeq platform, further strengthening SomaGenics' suite of tools for small RNA discovery and validation," said SomaGenics CEO Brian Johnston in a statement.