Sergei A Kazakov

..In the context of the RNA world hypothesis, freezing-induced ligation is an attractive mechanism by which complex RNAs could have evolved under conditions in which RNA was relatively protected against degradation...

..The results indicate that shRNAs, which can be prepared by either transcription or chemical synthesis, may be effective agents for the control of HCV...

..Our findings have implications for the mechanism of action of sshRNAs, and the ability to design highly potent shRNAs with minimal length is encouraging for the prospects of the therapeutic use of direct-delivered shRNAs...

..We argue that prebiotic conditions associated with freezing, rather than "warm and wet" conditions, could have been of key importance in the early RNA world...

..We also show in cell culture experiments that Lassos directed against Fas pre-mRNA were able to induce a change in alternative splicing patterns...

..We suggest that dehydration of the RNA is the key factor promoting HPR activity in water- alcohol solutions. Alcohol-induced ribozyme ligation may have practical applications...

..These results suggest that complex RNAs could have evolved in freezing environments on the early earth and perhaps elsewhere...

..About 10%-20% of siRNAs represented in these libraries show significant inhibition of their target genes. Most of these inhibitory sequences are not predicted by existing algorithms...

..miR-ID is based on new findings that are themselves of general interest, including reverse transcription of small RNA circles and the use of 5'-overlapping primers for detection of repetitive sequences by qPCR...

..We call this method random oligonucleotide ligated libraries (ROLL)...

..Our current business strategy is to sell custom RNA in partnership with Large Scale Biology Corp. and license the technology to certain other manufacturers. ..

..In this way, optimized Lassos will be derived in an automatic and straightforward manner for application as agents for target validation, gene function analysis, and therapeutics. ..

..They should find diverse applications, includinginhibitingthe expression of disease-related genes, functional genomics, and target validation. ..

..This system will be particularly useful for RNAi-based drugs that are currently in development for several disorders, including HCV, where the ability to monitor target knock-down and off-target effects is important. ..