DNA/RNA synthesizer for bioorganic and medicinal nucleic acid chemistry

通过化学合成天然核酸（DNA和RNA）的类似物，可以实现人类恶性肿瘤新疗法的合理设计。我们的实验室正在开发几种这样的类似物；例如，我们非常感兴趣的是RNA的近亲：阿拉伯核酸（ANA），它含有阿拉伯糖而不是核糖作为糖环。其他化合物具有“套索”结构，即所谓的“RNA套索”；这些是在每个真核细胞的细胞核中形成的非常奇怪的分子。通过比较这些结构的化学和生物学特性，这些特性是RNA生物学功能的基础，我们希望能够产生能够“沉默”参与疾病进展（癌症，炎症等）的基因的替代核酸结构。因此，我们在麦吉尔研究的一个重要组成部分是开发具有改进治疗潜力的核酸“类似物”。我们希望我们将开发的化学修饰核酸是普遍适用的，可以用于广泛的治疗性基因靶标。

The rational design of new therapies for human malignancies may be achieved by chemically synthesizing analogues of the natural nucleic acids (DNA and RNA). Several such analogues are being developed in our laboratory; for example, one of much interest to us is a close 'cousin' of RNA: arabinonucleic acid (ANA), which contains arabinose instead of ribose as its sugar ring. Other compounds have a "lasso" structure, the so-called "RNA lariats"; these are very curious molecules that form in the nucleus of every eukoryotic cell. By comparing these structures with respect to their chemical and biological properties that are fundamental to RNA's biological functions, we hope to be able to generate alternative nucleic acid structures that are able to "silence" genes that participate in disease progression (cancer, inflammation, etc). Therefore, a significant component of our research at McGill focuses on the development of nucleic acid "analogues" with improved therapeutic potential. It is our hope that the chemical modified nucleic acids we will develop are generally applicable and can be employed against a wide range of therapeutic gene targets.