July 1, 2008
The NIH/NIGMS awarded a $199,000 phase 1 SBIR grant to AM Biotechnologies in Galveston, Texas. The money will be used to develop RNA thiophosphoramidites that will enable the synthesis of phosphorodithioate RNA oligonucleotides. The grant is entitled, “New Reagents for Synthesizing Nuclease-resistant siRNA”.
The principal investigator, Dr. Xianbin Yang, Director, Research and Development at the company, will lead the project. Results from this grant may pave the way for a new class of RNA reagents that will significantly increase siRNA nuclease resistance and enhance the pharmacokinetic properties of siRNA. Phosphorodithioate siRNA will also be achiral at phosphorus, which will eliminate any variable biochemical, biophysical, and biological properties of diastereomeric phosphoromonothioate substituted siRNA.