Clearing the RaNAway
How RaNA is raising RNA levels with two different platforms
After launching RaNA Therapeutics Inc. in 2011 to exploit the therapeutic potential of long-noncoding RNA (lncRNA), the company has gone where the science led it, and added a second platform that uses RNA oligonucleotides to stabilize mRNA. With much of the mechanistic work behind it, RaNA is now lining up a lead compound from each platform to take to the clinic next year.
The core platform was based on the work of Jeannie Lee, professor of genetics and pathology at Harvard Medical School, who uncovered the importance of lncRNAs - transcripts derived from the so-called "junk DNA" that doesn't encode proteins. Lee is also on the scientific advisory board at RaNA and is the recipient of this year's Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH) Lurie Prize in Biomedical Sciences...