Qiagen has announced the formation of the High-Throughput RNAi User Forum, accessible to all scientists interested in this exciting and rapidly evolving technology
The High-Throughput RNAi User Forum aims to facilitate advances in RNAi screening in drug target identification and systems biology.
The principal purpose of the group is to promote the exchange of information and ideas about best practice in RNAi screening, especially as applied to target identification and validation in drug development.
The High-Throughput RNAi User Forum will meet at twice-yearly conferences, with one conference held in the USA and one in Europe.
A web portal dedicated to the group will also be established to continually provide updated news and information.
A steering committee, consisting of scientists from Qiagen and a select group of experts in the field, will coordinate the group.
For 2006, the steering committee members include: Dr Spyro Mousses, Director Cancer Drug Development Research Unit, Translational Genomics Research Institute, Arizona, USA; Dr John B Hogenesch, Professor, Department of Neurobiology, The Scripps Research Institute, Florida, USA; Dr Natasha Caplen, Office of the Director, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Maryland, USA; Dr Carl Novina, Assistant Professor, Cancer Immunology and Aids, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA; Dr Lucas Pelkmans, Assistant Professor, Institute for Molecular Systems Biology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland.
RNAi is a powerful tool that combines specificity and efficiency to unravel the functioning of genes in biological systems and pathological conditions.
Recent advances have greatly improved siRNA design and led to the synthesis of large sets of siRNAs that target complete gene families or even the whole human and mouse genomes.
These developments have made high-throughput RNAi more accessible to both pharmaceutical companies and academic researchers.
The High-Throughput RNAi User Forum aims to facilitate progress, stimulate discussion, and open channels of communication in this field.
