mRNA vaccines are an emerging modality for vaccination as they can be mass produced at relatively low cost and quick turn-around times. Learn more here!
CRISPR-based genome editing tools show tremendous potential as therapeutic agents for the treatment of genetic diseases and viral infections, as discussed in previous Zone blogs and the June 2021 TriLink Research Spotlight titled, A Novel Base-Editing Strategy Promises to Treat Sickle Cell Disease . Nevertheless, safe and efficient delivery of CRISPR tools to target tissues continues to attract growing attention (see Chart). A wide variety of technical approaches are being exp...
This post is Part 2 of a series of Zone blogs featuring DNA plasmids used to produce in vitro transcribed (IVT) mRNA. Part 1 , posted on June 8, 2021, provided historical perspectives on the discovery of plasmids, as well as descriptions of how these circular double-stranded DNAs enabled recombinant DNA technology and now IVT mRNA production. The two growth phases of plasmid applications are reflected in this chart of publications in PubMed indexed to gene therapy and genetic vacci...
Introduction Synthetic mRNA produced by in vitro transcription (IVT) is the active pharmaceutical ingredient of approved vaccines and of many drugs under development. IVT mRNA typically contains several hundred bases of non-coding untranslated regions (UTRs) that are involved in the stabilization and translation of the mRNA. Remarkably, new research has discovered that these UTRs can be virtually eliminated without compromising translation of the encoded protein of interest. ...
