Abstract
This meeting was the fifth annual event of a themed conference that was designed for discussion and for scientific and business collaborations. The meeting was organized by GeneExpression SystemsTM, Inc. (MA, USA). The 3-day intensive single-track meeting was arranged in ten scientific sessions, attracted 100 scientists and brought together industry leaders and entrepreneurs and renowned international scientists from academia, who contributed seminars, and product presentations that displayed the latest tools in RNAi and microRNA (miRNA) research. This report covers representative presentations from academia and from the biotechnology and pharmaceutical industry. RNAi pathways control gene expression by post-transcriptional and transcriptional gene-silencing mechanisms. The discovery of the dsRNAi could show gene-silencing effects in worms, plants and animals. The same type of silencing can be achieved in mammalian cells by the introduction of siRNAs of 21–23 nucleotides. In addition, it has also been shown that single-stranded 21-nucleotide miRNAs are identical in length to siRNAs and are also involved in the RNAi pathway. The discovery of RNAi, siRNAs and miRNAs has provided new tools to biologists to understand molecular processes. Since the topic is becoming popular as an emerging technology, several laboratories in academia, biotechnology and pharmaceuticals are adopting it for gene-suppression, target-validation and drug development studies. RNAi exploded like a volcano in the academic, biotechnology and pharmaceutical circles and bagged the 2006 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for Dr Andrew Fire and Dr Craig Mello. This field has had an impact in modern biomedicine and commercial enterprise for the development of new diagnostics and therapeutics for several human diseases. More than 400 miRNA genes have been identified in the human genome. The potential of miRNA research is seemingly unlimited. With this tool, scientists and clinicians are able to focus not just on finding better treatments but also on finding cures for many of the diseases ailing the world today, including cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and metabolic diseases. Modern biomedical science is finally bringing together the intellectual forces of international academic researchers, industry scientists and clinicians. Such collaborations are of high relevance for emerging science such as RNAi and miRNA research, which hold such great potential for therapeutics and understanding the development of diseases.
Published Version
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