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Biotech / Medical : RNAi -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: nigel bates who wrote (72)	8/14/2003 8:53:43 PM
From: SemiBull	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 671

Dharmacon Launches ON-TARGET(TM) siRNA to Further Enhance the Specificity of siRNA-Mediated RNA Interference Thursday August 14, 5:15 pm ET LAFAYETTE, Colo., Aug. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Dharmacon, Inc., the leading global supplier of innovative RNA and RNA interference (RNAi) research products, today announced the launch of ON-TARGET(TM) siRNA, a new modified form of siRNA designed to further improve the specificity of siRNA-mediated RNA interference. Several recent scientific publications have highlighted the need to tightly control the specificity of RNA interference. ON-TARGET siRNA, which represents a new generation of siRNA, uses proprietary chemical modifications to the siRNA sense strand to further improve gene-silencing specificity. "The launch of ON-TARGET siRNA advances Dharmacon's technological leadership in the siRNA field," said Stephen Scaringe, Ph.D., co-chairman and chief scientific officer at Dharmacon. "ON-TARGET siRNA builds on the advantages of Dharmacon's proprietary synthesis chemistry and SMARTtechnology(TM) design algorithms that produce highly functional siRNA designs while further reducing the potential for off-target gene silencing. ON-TARGET siRNA allows us to offer an enhanced product for later stage research where there is less tolerance for off-target effects." siRNA is a short double stranded nucleic acid molecule composed of a sense and complementary antisense strand. In siRNA mediated gene silencing, a protein complex known as the RNA induced silencing complex (RISC) can use either strand to direct recognition and destruction of the target mRNA. When applied in functional genomics and drug discovery research, only the contribution of the siRNA antisense strand is desired. The siRNA sense strand can contribute to significant unintended or "off-target" effects. Dharmacon's industry leading SMARTselection(TM) and SMARTpool(TM) design algorithms already reduce off-target gene silencing by producing potent siRNA reagents that are guaranteed to silence genes by at least 75% and are effective at low concentrations. High concentrations of siRNA have been shown to be a major source of off-target effects. Dharmacon's ON-TARGET siRNA uses proprietary modifications to specifically inactivate the siRNA sense strand. This eliminates a potential source of off-target gene silencing. The silencing potency and specificity of the antisense strand, however, is fully maintained. ON-TARGET siRNA is currently available for purchase from Dharmacon's web site www.dharmacon.com. About Dharmacon Dharmacon, Inc. is the world's leading provider of innovative RNA, small interfering RNA (siRNA) and related RNA-interference (RNAi) products and technologies to the life sciences industry. Founded in 1995, Dharmacon discovered and commercialized 2'-ACE®, a novel, highly productive chemical strategy for RNA synthesis. Using its core expertise in chemistry, biology, bioinformatics and production, Dharmacon has pioneered a custom siRNA design service that employs its proprietary SMARTselection(TM) algorithms for maximizing the efficiency of gene silencing, a powerful and increasingly widely-used new technology based on siRNA. The company provides the most reliable and highest quality RNA oligonucleotides and other custom RNA modification options that leverage Dharmacon's proprietary chemistries. Dharmacon is based in Lafayette, Colorado. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.dharmacon.com. For further information please contact: Mike Deines, VP Marketing of Dharmacon, +1-303-604-9499; or media, Stephen Gendel of GendeLLindheim BioCom Partners, +1-212-918-4650, for Dharmacon. Source: Dharmacon, Inc.