Oligonucleotides for Medical Applications

The use of synthetic oligonucleotides (ONs, short DNA or RNA strands) in the treatment of genetic diseases is a rapidly growing field, and the most promising alternative to gene therapy or small molecules.

Most pharmaceutical companies shift from in-house platform development to product-specific licensing and co-development to get ON based therapies past clinical trials.

Therefore there is a growing and currently unmet need for a combined academic and industry-based multidisciplinary research to further advance the field by bringing together the separated and fragmented R&D efforts of diverse ON technologies.OLIGOMED will address these needs by:- uniting world-class academic and private sector expertise in ON chemistry, bio-analysis and medical applications- developing a next generation ON platform technology based on combining tailored synthetic ONs with smart delivery- optimising ON therapies through testing in medicinal environmentsWe will use these novel ON technologies to develop innovative treatment options for high-impact genetic diseases, i.e.

Huntingtons disease, cardiovascular diseases and cancer.Our European intersectoral and multidisciplinary research and training network for 15 Early Stage Researchers (ESRs) will deliver:-highly skilled scientific staff required to fully exploit ON therapeutics for personalised medicine-top-class training in organic and chemoenzymatic synthesis, ON analysis, and biomedical/medicinal testing-transferable skills courses, specific industry relevant workshops and public engagement activitiesThis combination makes OLIGOMED a truly exciting programme for ESRs.

The platform will immediately benefit to both European citizens and commercial partners.

In the long term, OLIGOMED`s flexible platform technology will be taken forward by our private sector and research institutions for exploitation and will thus strengthen the European innovation capacity in the field of ON therapies.