ST. LOUIS, Jan. 25 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sigma-Aldrich , a leading $1.7 billion Life Science Company and member of The RNAi Consortium (TRC), proudly welcomes the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center and the University of Michigan to the RNAi Partnership Program. The RNAi Partnership Program provides these newest members with access to cutting-edge products in Sigma- Aldrich's functional genomics portfolio, including TRC shRNA libraries targeting more than 15,000 human and another 15,000 mouse genes.
"We are pleased to become a member of the Sigma-Aldrich RNAi Partnership Program and look forward to a productive collaboration," said Dr. Shawn Levy, the Scientific Director of the Vanderbilt Microarray Shared Resource for the Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center. "Here at Vanderbilt, many researchers are interested in targeted gene knockdown, and access to the MISSION(TM) TRC shRNA Library will greatly accelerate their ability to prioritize genes identified from various proteomic and genomic screens."
Speaking for Sigma-Aldrich, Keith Jolliff, Sigma-Aldrich's Director of Strategic Marketing for Genomics and Functional Genomics, said, "We are very pleased to expand our collaborative relationships with these prestigious institutions, and we will continue to look for innovative ways to accelerate our partners' success."
Mikhail Nikiforov, Assistant Professor in the Department of Dermatology and a member of the Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, said, "Multiple labs have now been using the collection of lentivirus-based shRNAs from Sigma-Aldrich with great success. Fast, efficient and specific inhibition of almost every gene in human or mouse genome provides us an invaluable tool for understanding gene function. In addition, the availability of such a tool is extremely important for assessing specificity and efficacy of new and existing pharmaceutical agents designed for inhibition of genes and proteins. The partnership with Sigma-Aldrich will significantly facilitate our research in both areas."
Through the RNAi Partnership Program, Sigma-Aldrich aims to establish collaborations with select academic institutions to advance functional genomics research by aiding academic researchers with early exposure to emerging new techniques, a broad portfolio of intellectual property and special partnership pricing on Sigma-Aldrich's extensive RNAi product lines. Existing members of the RNAi Partnership Program include The Cleveland Clinic, Washington University of St. Louis, Princeton University, The Wistar Institute, and Rutgers University, among others. These members enjoy unique access to RNAi cutting-edge tools for studying the underlying cause of disease and elucidating basic gene function.
Sigma's rapidly growing offering includes various products positioned along the functional genomic research workflow, such as the lentivirus-based MISSION TRC shRNA libraries, activated lentiviral particles, custom siRNA and QPCR reagents.
Sigma-Aldrich has made a major commitment to the rapidly developing area of RNAi. This commitment began with the establishment of a research collaboration with TRC. This was followed by a license with MIT to make and sell the shRNA libraries developed by TRC and, subsequently, the introduction of Sigma-Aldrich's MISSION TRC shRNA Libraries. Additional agreements with Alnylam, Benitec and Oxford BioMedica provide Sigma-Aldrich with a major intellectual property portfolio in RNAi. To find out more about the program and how to become a member, visit us at sigma.com/rnai_program.
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 7,300 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 Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center (VICC): The Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center at Vanderbilt University Medical Center is dedicated to a comprehensive, interdisciplinary approach to cancer care, research, prevention, and patient and community education. With nearly 300 investigators, Vanderbilt-Ingram is ranked among the top 10 centers in total research funding from the National Cancer Institute and generates more than $150 million each year in research support from public and private sources. Vanderbilt-Ingram is the only National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center in Tennessee and one of only 39 to achieve this distinction nationwide. The Center is consistently recognized among the best places for cancer care by U.S. News & World Report. For more information, visit us online at http://www.vicc.org .
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). The MISSION TRC shRNA 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). The Broad Institute of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University is the leading design and development of the TRC libraries. 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 serve. The Companies do not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.
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