RNA therapeutics

Innovative therapeutics based on ribonucleic acid (RNA) have become known to a broad public in the context of vaccine development. But RNA-based vaccines are only one use case. In many organ diseases, altered gene expression signatures are known to influence disease progression. This is where RNA therapy comes in: The targeted use of coding or non-coding RNA sequences enables a tailored response of the specific target cells under certain pathological conditions. Fraunhofer ITEM has access to a broad range of techniques and methods, partly by cooperating with other Fraunhofer institutes and academic partners, and these are used to explore and develop for example short siRNA molecules for the treatment of pulmonary fibrosis and other chronic immune diseases. One focus is on model systems based on human cells and tissues, which are being further developed within the Fraunhofer CIMD sub-platform “RNA therapeutics”. Furthermore, special administration technologies, both at the molecular and equipment level, play a key role. The pooled expertise in bioinformatics-based target discovery and characterization, preclinical pharmacology and toxicology, targeted delivery and eventually clinical translation is already available for research collaborations and joint activities with industry partners.