OLIGOMED (Oligonucleotides for Medical Applications) is a world-class consortium formed to tackle the unmet need for a combined academic and industry-based multidisciplinary research to further advance the oligonucleotide therapeutics field, by bringing together the separated and fragmented R&D efforts of diverse oligonucleotide technologies.

It comprises 12 beneficiaries: 8 world-class academic units, 1 leading hospital unit, 2 high-quality SMEs (including Sixfold), and 1 world-leading pharmaceutical company.

Additionally, the consortium has 4 partner institutions including a major hospital unit, a dedicated pharmaceutical SME, one of the world's largest DNA synthesis companies and an excellent Learning and Development Centre.

The OLIGOMED ITN has 15 ESR PhD projects available in conjunction with Southampton University, one of which will be hosted by Sixfold Bioscience. The successful recipient will be supported by a prestigious MSCA fellowship, after which they will be awarded their PhD in Chemistry from Southampton University.

This exciting project will be utilising the latest innovations in RNA therapeutics to improve and evaluate Sixfold’s therapeutic delivery system on clinically relevant assays. The project will include secondments to partner organisations University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust and the University of Gent, Belgium.

Dr Anna Perdix Rosell (co-founder and Managing Director of Sixfold Bioscience), who will be supervising the project commented:

“This is an excellent opportunity for an ambitious PhD student seeking to undertake world-class research in the fast-growing field of RNA therapeutics in a unique multidisciplinary setting”.

EU H2020 MSC ETN - Project 956070 OLIGOMED

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 956070.

Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

The Marie Skłodowska-Curie actions support researchers at all stages of their careers, regardless of age and nationality. Researchers working across all disciplines are eligible for funding. The MSCA also support cooperation between industry and academia and innovative training to enhance employability and career development. Innovative Training Networks (ITN) drive scientific excellence and innovation. They bring together universities, research institutes and other sectors from across the world to train researchers to doctoral level. https://ec.europa.eu/research/mariecurieactions/actions/research-networks_en

OLIGOMED

The multipartner, multidisciplinary project OLIGOMED (Oligonucleotides for Medical Applications) addresses urgent needs in healthcare, in particular cancer, Huntington's Disease and cardiovascular diseases. The project will apply cutting edge oligonucleotide technology to find innovative solutions and create a novel platform for personalised medicine. https://www.southampton.ac.uk/oligomed/about/index.page

Sixfold Bioscience Ltd.

Sixfold Bioscience is a venture-backed preclinical-stage biotechnology company based at the Innovation and Translation Hub in White City, London. Sixfold develops nucleic acid-based drug delivery systems, with a current focus on Cell & Gene therapeutics such as short interfering RNA for gene silencing and messenger RNA for gene expression. For more information, visit: https://www.sixfold.bio