Itโs not every day that a biotech investor stumbles across an entirely new field of science. And frankly, Carlo Rizzuto wasnโt even looking for such a thing.
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In 2012, [RNA scientist Samie Jaffreyโs] lab invented a method to map the location of methyl groups that, for some reason, cells were adding to their mRNA. It was reminiscent of another field, called epigenetics, or the study of chemical modifications made to DNA to turn genes on or off. The entirety of RNA in a cell is called the transcriptome, so Jaffrey dubbed the new field โepitranscriptomics.โ
Rizzuto perked up. โThis is something that we would be very interested in,โ he said.
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Several groups, including Jaffreyโs, have shown that the epitranscriptomic codeโthe number and location of chemical modifications across a cellโs RNAโis seriously out of whack in some cancers. And with basic tools in hand to read this previously hidden layer of information in cells, biotech companies are now out to alter it. Three start-ups, including one that Jaffrey and Rizzuto helped found, calledย Gotham Therapeutics, have launched with more than $110 million in total dedicated to epitranscriptomics drug discovery.
Read full, original post:ย Epitranscriptomics: The new RNA code and the race to drug it
