Sigma-Aldrich, a member of the RNAi Consortium (TRC), introduces the first available shRNA gene family set in lentiviral format for direct use in gene silencing.
The Mission TRC shRNA human tumour suppressor gene family is the first in a series of shRNA target sets that allow for rapid RNAi cell-based screens in mammalian systems not easily manipulated by traditional siRNA.
The lentiviral transduction particle format eliminates the need to propagate bacterial cells, purify plasmid DNA or undertake the lengthy process of preparing virus, thus saving time and valuable resources.
Lentiviral-based shRNA can be used to create a stable knockdown in almost any mammalian cell type, including primary and non-dividing cells.
"Understanding the role of tumour suppressors in cancer biology and drug response is a key factor of cancer research.
"This collection will enhance drug discovery screens and provide insight into the mechanisms of tumor progression," said Christina Bailey, global strategic market manager, functional genomics.
"The tumour suppressors assembled in this set are ideal for high-throughput screens and the establishment of stable knockdown cell lines".
The Mission TRC shRNA human tumour suppressors are also available as bacterial glycerol stocks.
This gene family is the second of its kind in the Mission TRC product offering.
The shRNA human kinase set in glycerol format was recently released, consisting of 630 kinase targets.
Additional gene family sets are anticipated over the next few months.
Sigma-Aldrich is committed to advancing functional genomics through the expansion of gene family sets targeting major research areas.
These leading scientific products are backed by a broad portfolio of exclusive intellectual property and have been developed utilising the company's state-of-the-art, high throughput lentiviral production centre.
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.
