Times Union: NanoCollege, startup win NIH grant to develop way to
kill sick cells
Published:
Saturday, June 13, 2015 - 09:54
HocusLocus, SUNY Poly receive $225,000
By Claire Hughes Published 8:05 pm, Friday, June 12, 2015
Chief research scientist James Keith prepares RNA samples for analysis in a lab at SUNY Polytechnic Institute's Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (SUNY Poly CNSE) on Friday, June 12, 2015 in Albany, N.Y. SUNY Poly CNSE startup HocusLocus, LLC, in partnership with the SUNY Poly CNSE NanoCollege, has been awarded $225,000 by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) for research leading to an antiviral approach using an RNA-based platform technology, referred to as OsxRNA.O(Lori Van Buren / Times Union)
Albany
A partnership between the Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering and startup firm HocusLocus has been awarded $225,000 from the National Institutes of Health for research aimed at controlling a "switch" in a gene that could result in the elimination of infected cells or the creation of desired ones.
If proven to work consistently and safely, the new platform technology — so-called because there are multiple ways it could be built upon — is called sxRNA. HocusLocus' business is making molecular tools based on RNA.
Most people are familiar with DNA, sometimes referred to as a person's genetic blueprint. RNA comes in different forms.
Some RNA molecules are copies of the DNA that send its genetic message to the cell. Other RNA molecules turn genes on and off, or dim their display, like a light switch. These RNA molecules produce various proteins to get their jobs done.
