Abstract

siPOOLs – RNAi that works

Catherine Goh, Head of Product Development and Marketing, siTOOLs Biotech GmbH

RNAi is a great method for gene function analysis: it is reversible, dose dependent, versatile, fast and cost-efficient. These drug-like properties have made it the tool of choice for numerous functional genomic screens. However, off-target effects dominate most published RNAi screens and limit their yield to a small number of strongly responding, frequently well-established gene factors.siPOOLs are complex pools of 30 carefully selected siRNAs. The very low concentration of each individual siRNA dilutes off-target effects below detection. Target gene silencing becomes highly efficient and reliable due to the cooperative activity of all siRNAs composing the pool.siPOOLs therefore allow a far deeper interpretation of RNAi screening data, increasing the yield of novel targets and aiding the understanding of complex biology.