Society News

The human body is phenomenally complex, and we are continually discovering incredible facts about it. One fascinating aspect lies in splicing of RNA as it is processed in the cell. Alternate splicing of a single pre-mRNA molecule can create tens of thousands of different mRNAs, which contributes to the existence of such an intricate organism as a human. If ...

When the FDA issued emergency use authorization for Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccines, mRNA instantly became a household word. Many people believed that this new technology had sprung up out of nowhere in less than a year. What they did not know is that it had been in development for two decades, for uses ranging from vaccines for infectious ...

Imagine if your muscles began weakening for no apparent reason. Then, after an ongoing search for a diagnosis, you learn that you have a disease in which your muscles would progressively waste away and become weaker until you would no longer be able to walk. Ultimately, the disease would lead to death. This is exactly what people diagnosed with ...

As we’ve reviewed in past articles the discovery and history of RNA interference and siRNA as a potent therapeutic modality, it brings us to a fascinating idea. Does siRNA carry the potential to heal the brain? If so, can it treat more than genetic diseases? What about brain tumors and cancers, Alzheimer’s disease, Multiple Sclerosis, stroke, or behavioral conditions? ...

Recently, people who have been impacted by Huntington’s disease, their families, and the OTS community were disappointed to learn that the GENERATION HD1 Phase III study of Tominersen was halted based on the recommendation of an unblinded Independent Data Monitoring Committee. Although not based on emergent safety concerns, the specific reasoning behind this recommendation has not yet been released. ...

Earlier this year we celebrated the 20th Anniversary of RNA Interference in Mammalian Cells. In this article, we are going to discuss small interfering RNA (siRNA), a key mechanism that induces gene silencing in the RNAi pathway. siRNAs are highly specific, making them a powerful tool to suppress the expression of specific genes, but they did require a significant ...