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N-Cap RNA: protected RNAs for in-tube diagnostic controls and inter-laboratory standards

Reference	BB/K01093X/1
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor George Lomonossoff
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	John Innes Centre
Department	Biological Chemistry
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	137,513
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	06/11/2012
End date	05/11/2013
Duration	12 months

Abstract

unavailable

Summary

Amplification of RNA from crude samples for diagnostic or screening purposes can fail at many stages during the isolation, clean-up and amplification processes. Such failures produce false negative results, which are not acceptable when screening critical samples, for instance during outbreaks of epidemic viral disease in animals or humans. It is therefore highly desirable, if not essential, to include control RNA at the earliest possible step in the process, so that a positive control signal can validate every step from sample acquisition to final amplification and detection. However RNA is a fragile molecule and an unprotected RNA standard is very rapidly degraded. We have shown that this degradation can be prevented by encapsulating the RNA within a plant virus particle (N-cap RNA) and, furthermore, that such particles can act as highly effective in-tube controls. We now need to develop methods for the rapid production of such controls for a wide range of target diseases.

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	Microbiology, Technology and Methods Development
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	Follow-On Fund (FOF) [2004-2015]
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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