RNA interference, which involves designing molecular “smart bombs” to switch off genes, holds vast promise for medicine. The only problem is that while some bombs are spectacular successes, others are dismal failures. But a biotech company says it has now developed a way to make them more effective and screen out the duds.
RNA interference (RNAi) works by triggering an attack on the messenger RNA that spools off a gene, which is then used to make the protein. To make the bombs, researchers create a small RNA molecule that matches part of the sequence of the target gene.
These small…
