July 1st, 2009 Exiqon Announces 2009 North American Grant Award Winners Exiqon A/S (NASDAQ OMX Copenhagen: “EXQ”) today announced the two winners of their 2009 North American Grant Program. Exiqon had recently announced the development of a new research grant program, open to researchers from academic and non-profit institutions across North America, engaged in microRNA research.
The 2009 Grant Program winners are: Dr. Liang Zhang, Ph.D., of the Rockefeller University Fuchs Laboratory of Mammalian Cell Biology and Development, and Dr. Toshifumi Sugatani, Ph.D., of the Hruska Laboratory in the Department of Pediatric Research at the Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine.
Dr. Sugatani will receive funding to pursue research aimed at elucidating the role of microRNAs (miRNAs) in physiological and pathophysiological bone remodeling in vivo. This research has potential therapeutic indications for the treatment of osteoporosis, a disease which currently affects more than 75 million individuals worldwide.
Dr. Zhang will receive funding to pursue research aimed at determining how microRNAs (miRNAs) regulate the maintenance and development of epidermal stem cell populations. This research has implications for a wide range of disorders and conditions, including skin cancer. Skin cancer is the most prevalent form of cancer, with over 1 million new diagnoses each year in the United States alone.
To qualify for the grant awards, Dr. Zhang and Dr. Sugatani each submitted abstracts providing background on their field of study, specific aims of the project, as well as detailed experimental plans, including how each would implement research tools from Exiqon. The two winners were faced with strong competition. Submission statistics for the grant program, divulged by Exiqon, revealed a significant response from the research community at large, including nearly 200 informational requests, and more than 90 qualified applications received as of June 15th, the program’s deadline.
“The level of response we have received to this program has, quite frankly, exceeded our initial expectations,” said Chris Harbert, Director of Marketing, Exiqon North American Life Sciences. “The range of pathologies indicated in the pool of applications clearly illustrates the importance of microRNA investigation in current biomedical research, and reaffirms the strong need for available tools and funding opportunities in this field. We are very proud to help support Dr. Zhang and Dr. Sugatani seek new breakthroughs in microRNA research. It will be exciting to see what unfolds.”
The two award winners will split the grant program seed funding of $25,000. Both grant finalists may use Exiqon Grant Program awards for the purchase of any Exiqon microRNA product or service. Exiqon offers a complete product line for microRNA investigation as well as microRNA profiling services for both microarray and qRT-PCR analysis. To learn more about Exiqon microRNA products, click here . To learn more about Exiqon microRNA services, click here.
Additional information: Additional information is available through Exiqon representatives located across North America. Interested parties are invited to contact Exiqon at 1-888-647-2879.
Information is also available from these web pages:
Fuchs Laboratory of Mammalian Cell Biology & Development
Hruska Laboratory of Pediatric Research
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