Phase II Amount
$1,107,445
Epitranscritomics is the study of RNA modifications, which include more than 170 naturally occurring chemicalalternations to the nucleotides. More than 60 are found in human RNA of all types: mRNA, tRNA, rRNA, lncRNA,and the others. These modifications are dynamic; their global quantities change in development and duringdisease progression. They are installed by writer enzymes, read by reader proteins and removed by eraserenzymes, and they have an intrinsic capacity to alter RNA structure and dynamics. They influence translationinitiation and termination, translation fidelity, alternative splicing, trafficking between cellular compartments, andregulate RNA degradation. RNA reader, writer and eraser proteins are promising drug targets of high currentinterest to pharma. In this project, we will develop and commercialize a new approach to detecting, identifying,and mapping, RNA modifications in a multiplex and with high sensitivity-suitable for clinical samples (e.g.needle biopsies, FFPE samples) in which only sub-nanogram quantities of RNA may be available. Thistechnology will be significant because it will provide the first commercial method for profiling and correlatingchanges of multiple RNA modification types across the entire transcriptome using low sample input.
Public Health Relevance Statement: Project Narrative
Alida Biosciences is a start-up company focused on reading the epitranscriptomic code, a regulatory layer of
biological information controlling how the genetic code is used in cells in health and in disease progression. By
creating and commercializing the first platform for reading multiple elements of this epitranscriptomic code
simultaneously, we will enable new science to understand the progression of diseases such as cancer and
accelerate drug development targeting epitranscriptomic pathways.
Project Terms: |
