Cenix seals RNA interference deal with Boehringer

Partnership

Cenix BioScience GmbH, a specialist RNA interference (RNAi) contract research organisation, signed a research agreement to support Boehringer Ingelheim in target discovery in the field.

Dresden-based Cenix will apply its expertise in combining high throughput applications of RNAi-based gene silencing, with high-content phenotypic analyses in a genome-scale screen using cultured human cells. Microscopy-based assays developed by Cenix will be used to complement proprietary assays developed at Boehringer Ingelheim, to generate detailed insights into the cellular functions and loss-of-function phenotypes of the genes under analysis.

Such RNAi datasets provide a highly predictive and cost-effective basis for mining the human genome to discover and prioritise targets for drug discovery in a wide range of diseases.