The Drexel University RNAi Resource Center, which opened in summer 2005 in the Biotechnology Department, has established a University-wide resource to distribute human, mouse and rat genome RNA interference (RNAi) reagents to all Drexel researchers at no cost and provide the necessary technical support to utilize these reagents.

RNAi is a naturally occurring mechanism in higher eukaryotes (organisms including all animals, plants and fungi), which can regulate expression of specific genes. Reagents that use this mechanism have recently become commercially available and allow researchers to carefully control gene expression of virtually any gene in mammalian cells. Before the development of these reagents, artificial control of gene expression in mammalian cells was either impossible or extremely costly. The life science community has rushed to embrace this technology but it is often financially out of reach for the individual investigator. Using funds from Drexel University GRID and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Health Formula Tobacco Awards, these reagents are now available to Drexel investigators through the RNAi Resource Center.

The Center’s Web site, www.drexel.edu/ RNAi, explains the resources available to the Drexel community. For more information about the RNAi Resource Center, email RNAi@drexel.edu or call Duy Tran or Dr. Aleister Saunders at 215-895-1851.