Interfering RNA libraries might boost mammalian gene insight.

LONDON -- Those involved in drug discovery now have useful new tools at their disposal, including libraries of retroviral vectors, which instruct mammalian cells to switch off specific genes.

The scientists who developed the libraries predict that they will speed up the identification of drug targets. While validating it, they have pinpointed one known and five new genes involved in a cellular pathway that is commonly mutated in cancer.

Rene Bernards, professor of molecular carcinogenesis at the Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam, told BioWorld International: "We believe that these libraries will have a major impact on drug discovery. Researchers can now …