An engineering approach to the design of synthetic UTR control elements for mRNA therapeutics
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Sheffield
Department Name: Molecular Biology and Biotechnology
Abstract
Messenger RNA (mRNA) is a novel therapeutic platform to make proteins in patients to treat diseases requiring protein replacement, to delivery biologics such as antibodies or to deliver protein antigens for vaccination against cancer and infectious diseases. mRNA offers the potential to reach previously un-drugable targets, to simplify manufacturing of complex multicomponent therapies while avoiding problems of other gene therapy approaches such as permanent chromosomal integration.
Critical to this is the stability and translational efficiency of the mRNAs used. Typically, mRNA therapeutics use sequences identified from highly expressed genes, however these may be sub optimal. This project will use a combination of bioinformatic analysis and high throughput analysis to identify the RNA determinants of RNA stability and translational efficiency and design synthetic sequences to control these.
Critical to this is the stability and translational efficiency of the mRNAs used. Typically, mRNA therapeutics use sequences identified from highly expressed genes, however these may be sub optimal. This project will use a combination of bioinformatic analysis and high throughput analysis to identify the RNA determinants of RNA stability and translational efficiency and design synthetic sequences to control these.
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NE/W503101/1 | 01/04/2021 | 31/03/2022 | |||
| 1957781 | Studentship | NE/W503101/1 | 01/10/2017 | 04/06/2022 | Justin Coyne |