Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc, the world leader in serving science, has established a grant programme to award life science researchers more than $400,000 in RNA-interference (RNAi) reagents used to study genes in medical research and drug discovery.

The Thermo Scientific Discovery Grant Programme will include various siRNA, shRNA and microRNA reagents from the industry-leading Dharmacon and Open Biosystems RNAi technology portfolios, marketed under the Thermo Scientific brand. Five projects will be selected based on their potential to advance science and medicine. Recent breakthroughs involving Thermo Scientific RNAi technologies include a study to find human genes associated with West Nile virus infection, the discovery of potential new targets for HIV drugs and identification of genes that appear to affect the susceptibility of human cancer cells to certain chemotherapy treatments.

"Thermo Fisher is a world leader in providing tools for gene analysis, and we have led the way in the use of RNAi technologies for scientific research," said Marc N Casper, chief operating officer of Thermo Fisher Scientific. "We have created this grant programme to advance RNAi-based screening and to help our life sciences customers accelerate their discoveries."

The Thermo Scientific RNAi Discovery Grant Programme is open to both academic and commercial researchers, who may complete a simple application online at www.thermo.com/RNAiDiscovery. Grant applications will be reviewed by a panel of scientists at Thermo Fisher Scientific, and recipients will be selected based on the merit of their projects, their screening capabilities and, most importantly, potential scientific impact. Applications for the grants will be accepted through September 7, 2009.

Grant award options include whole-genome RNAi screening, RNAi gene family and microRNA libraries. The whole genome award includes membership in the RNAi Global Initiative, established by the Thermo Scientific Dharmacon products team in 2005 to advance RNAi screening and foster collaboration among researchers. The group now includes more than 38 world-leading research institutions.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc is the world leader in serving science, enabling our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer.