Sigma® Life Science and SwitchGear Genomics™ launch MISSION® 3′ UTR Lenti GoClone™ library

Sigma Life Science, the innovative biological products and services research business of Sigma-Aldrich Corporation (Nasdaq:SIAL), today announced the availability of over 10,000 MISSION 3′ UTR Lenti GoClones, powered by SwitchGear Genomics Inc., for straightforward microRNA (miRNA) target validation. This novel target reporter system combines SwitchGear Genomics’ reporter assay expertise with Sigma Life Science’s patented lentiviral technology to provide ready-to-use vectors that can enable scientists to understand gene regulation in a variety of cell types, including primary cells. The library is available through Sigma Life Science’s fully searchable Your Favorite Gene powered by Ingenuity(YFG) web portal www.wherebiobegins.com/yfg.

SwitchGear Genomics’ GoClone miRNA target sets are already widely used for investigation of gene regulation by micro RNAs and the availability of these highly regarded reporter vectors in Sigma’s versatile lentiviral format can provide stable transfection into a broad range of cell types – including difficult to transfect lines such as primary cells and stem cells – without the need for time-consuming and laborious reporter cloning.

“This is a very exciting joint effort,” said Dr. Nathan Trinklein, CEO and co-founder of SwitchGear Genomics. “The combination of SwitchGear Genomics’ unique technology with Sigma’s industry-leading lentiviral technology and production capabilities will enable researchers to study miRNA function and gene regulation on an unprecedented scale.”

Dr. Supriya Shivakumar, Global Commercial Marketing Manager for Functional Genomics at Sigma Life Science, added: “This novel reporter technology in a lentiviral format is another example of how Sigma is responding to the specific needs of the research community, creating off-the-shelf solutions to accelerate the understanding of miRNA regulation in the most relevant cell types. This genome-wide collection of MISSION 3′ UTR Lenti GoClones will allow scientists to develop stable reporter lines quickly and easily for virtually any cell type, providing unique tools to further the fundamental understanding of gene regulation.”

To find out more, go to http://www.wherebiobegins.com/lentigoclone