ST. LOUIS, April 26 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sigma-Aldrich , a leader in RNAi and functional genomics, is working together with the premier scientific journal Cell to offer the groundbreaking article on High Content Viral Library Screens to a wider audience. Written by principal members of The RNAi Consortium (TRC) and published in the March 24, 2006, issue of Cell, the full-text article is now available through the Sigma-Aldrich corporate Web site.
The authors J. Moffat et al. reported the creation of a lentiviral shRNA library to knock down genes for genome-wide screening. In addition, the authors demonstrated the efficacy of the technology and, specifically, the TRC lentiviral shRNA library for high content screening.
“Our goal is to offer researchers innovative technologies, products and information in the latest cutting-edge fields of discovery,” said Stephanie Uder, Functional Genomics Product Manager at Sigma-Aldrich. “Enabling public access to this and other full-text articles on the latest RNAi technologies is but another example of our commitment to helping our customers to accelerate, innovate and create.”
In the Cell publication, the scientists reported development of the TRC lentiviral-based shRNA library that could be used for loss-of-function screens in a wide range of mammalian cell types. Such cell types include primary cells, non-dividing cells, cell lines not amenable to transfection, as well as standard transfectable lines. Moffat and colleagues employed a screen based on high content imaging to identify genes required for mitotic progression in human cancer cells. The screen utilized 5,000 individual clones targeting 1,028 human genes. Several issues related to the use of RNAi as a screening method were addressed in the article, including efficient gene transfer, specificity and efficiency of knockdown, and other technical requirements. The TRC shRNA library currently consists of 104,000 clones targeting over 22,000 human and mouse genes, most of which are already available from Sigma-Aldrich (a member and distributor of TRC) as the MISSION(TM) TRC collections.
To download the Cell article “A Lentiviral RNAi Library for Human and Mouse Genes Applied to an Arrayed Viral High Content Screen,” written by Moffat et al., visit http://sigma-aldrich.com/rnai .
About Sigma-Aldrich: Sigma-Aldrich is a leading Life Science and High Technology company. Its biochemical and organic chemical products and kits are used in scientific and genomic research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development, the diagnosis of disease and as key components in pharmaceutical and other high technology manufacturing. The Company has customers in life science companies, university and government institutions, hospitals, and in industry. Over one million scientists and technologists use its products. Sigma-Aldrich operates in 35 countries and has 7,000 employees providing excellent service worldwide. Sigma-Aldrich is committed to Accelerating Customer Success through Leadership in Life Science, High Technology and Service. For more information about Sigma-Aldrich, please visit its award- winning Web site at sigma-aldrich.com .
About TRC: TRC is comprised of principal investigators from world-class academic research institutions (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard Medical School, the Broad Institute, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Massachusetts General Hospital, Washington University, Columbia University, and Academia Sinica) as well as corporate sponsoring institutions (Sigma-Aldrich, Novartis, Eli Lilly, and Bristol-Myers Squibb). As a scientific collaborator and distribution partner through agreement with MIT, Sigma-Aldrich is working with TRC to provide the scientific community with RNAi tools for functional genomics research specifically for gene function discovery and the study of disease. The MISSION TRC shRNA clone libraries will comprise a comprehensive collection of 150,000 pre-cloned lentiviral-based shRNA vector constructs targeting 15,000 human genes (MISSION TRC-Hs1.0) and 15,000 mouse genes (MISSION TRC-Mm1.0). Design and development of the TRC libraries is being led by the Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard. For more information about MISSION shRNA clone collections, please visit us online at http://sigma-aldrich.com/rnai .
Cautionary Statement: This release contains forward-looking statements relating to future performance, goals, strategic actions and initiatives and similar intentions and beliefs and other statements regarding the Companies’ expectations, goals, beliefs, intentions and the like, which involve assumptions regarding the Companies’ operations and conditions in the markets the Companies serves. The Companies do not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20050215/CGSIGMAALLOGOAP Archive: http://photoarchive.ap.orgPRN Photo Desk, photodesk@prnewswire.comSigma-Aldrich
CONTACT: Sean Battles, +1-314-286-7616, or Stephanie Uder, +1-800-521-8956ext 1458, both of Sigma-Aldrich
