By interweaving nucleic acid scientists with clinicians dedicated to finding new cures, our goal is to create a new paradigm for organizing molecular research that enables the rapid application of new biological discoveries to solutions for unmet challenges in human health.
BRIDGE Innovation and Business Development at UMass Chan Medical School has committed nearly $2 million in funding this year for six UMass Chan Medical School investigator-led research projects that hold promise for translation to clinical application and commercialization. Dr. Li Li, assistant professor of RNA Therapeutics, was selected as a recipient for his project, Developing nucleoside-modified circular mRNAs as a durable and non-immunogenic platform for mRNA therapeutics. Read more»
Save the dates for our 7th annual RNA Therapeutics Symposium, June 25-27, 2025!
Abstract submission and Registration to open in December 2024.
ScienceLIVE is an educational science outreach program for Worcester area middle schools. We provide opportunities for students to engage with our diverse postdoctoral and graduate student trainees through interactive, exciting virtual and hands-on STEM activities.
A biochemical breakthrough using simple carbon atoms by Ken Yamada, PhD, and Anastasia Khvorova, PhD, has dramatically improved the stability and efficacy of a potential oligonucleotide therapeutic platform in mice. This discovery, published in Nature Biotechnology, has the potential to improve the durability of oligonucleotide drugs, including small interfering RNAs, and to bring these therapies to cell types outside of the liver for the first time.
“The innovation of our study is a modification to the chemical composition behind the oligonucleotide platform’s architecture,” said Dr. Khvorova, the Remondi Family Chair in Biomedical Research and professor of RNA therapeutics. “Using a relatively simple change—extending the RNA backbone with single carbon atoms—we’ve been able to significantly improve the duration that oligonucleotides persist in cells by effectively hiding them from the nucleases that normally break them up. This type of modification is critical to the success of oligonucleotide drugs as a class.”
Read Enhancing siRNA efficacy in vivo with extended nucleic acid backbones in Nature Biotech.
Meet Craig Mello, part of the RTI at UMass Chan, who was awarded the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, with Andrew Z. Fire, for the discovery of RNA interference. The discovery of RNAi has given scientists unprecedented opportunities to develop new life-saving therapies and advance our basic understanding of biology.
Worcester, known as the “Heart of the Commonwealth” is located in Central Massachusetts
