Bioo Scientific Awarded $750,000 NSF Grant

The value for developing a method to measure the true profile of microRNAs in a sample will be immense for the research community studying transcriptional regulation, and will open the doors to those interested in drug development and diagnostics. 

Small RNAs are ubiquitous gene regulators found in the body. Products of the same microRNA gene that vary in length by one or two nucleotides may be involved in a host of diseases, including cancer.

The NEXTflex™ Small RNA-Seq Kit v2 is already first in its class, incorporating patent pending bias-reducing technology for making small RNA libraries. By incorporating a randomized adapter strategy that involves incorporating pools of adapters that have randomized bases at critical positions adjacent to the target junctions, this technology successfully reduces the bias typically seen in small RNA sequencing data. With this new award, Bioo Scientific will develop additional bias-reducing technologies for small RNA library preparation. The goal is to make sequencing the gold standard for small RNA measurement. According to Dr. Masoud Toloue, Primary Investigator of the Phase II grant and VP of Genomic Research at Bioo Scientific, “The technology behind the recently launched NEXTflex Small RNA-Seq Kit v2 is a major shift in the way small RNA sequencing is performed, and will pave the way for unbiased discovery and measurement of new small RNAs for research and clinical applications.”