... A German research institute with a research priority in epigenetics intends to develop a kit to enrich small RNA’s from different samples (human, animal, plant).

The institute is working with a multifunctional suppressor of gene silencing derived from a plant virus. The suppressor can be expressed in vitro and has the capacity to bind small RNA molecules of different length with perfect as well as imperfect complementary duplex structures, e. g. small interfering RNA’s (siRNA’s) and micro RNA’s (miRNA). Binding can be enhanced by a factor found in several plant species. The suppressor can be used as a specific tool for the fast and easy isolation of small RNA molecules from total RNA samples and facilitates small RNA cloning.

Development stage: Proposal Under Development

European funding source(s): Other European funding

Type of Project: Coordination between national research programmes

Keywords: Medicine, Human Health (006001), Genome Research (006003) Biology/Biotechnology (006002)

Organisation type: Technical/Research Centre

Organisation size: 50-249

Other details: The institutes’ mission is to do research and development in the field of plant biotechnology and understands itself as a link between basic research and industrial application. AlPlanta is running six technology platforms (molecular breeding, virology, tissue culture,
genomics, proteomics, epigenetics) which are contributing to the research priorities “fruit diseases, phytoplasmas”, “grapevine biotechnology” and “RNA-mediated gene regulation. Its research activities base upon high-profile national and international R&D collaborations with both
industry and academia.

Target partner organisation type(s): SME (<250 employees)

Target partner expertise sought: The partner sought should be specialized in RNA profiling and/or the development of kits for the isolation of nucleic acids.

Application domains: BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES, Medicine, health, Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical/Comestics, Food - Agro Industry, MEASUREMENTS AND STANDARDS, Measurement methods