Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology FITFraunhofer FIT was a consortium partner in the Fraunhofer Future Foundation project RIBOLUTION. The project aimed at identifying and validating so-called cRNAs. The human genome has a similar number of genes as, for example, simple nematodes. The difference is that just 1.5 percent of the human genome serves as building instructions for proteins. Important regulatory mechanisms are hidden in the remaining 98.5 percent of the genome.
The work of the project consortium focused on these regulatory sections. In the course of the project, we identified highly potent biomarkers that can help in the diagnosis of prostate cancer and COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). As part of RIBOLUTION, Fraunhofer FIT has developed a system for the analysis of highly diluted RNA samples, which is based on the TopoScan platform. This so-called single molecule detection machine (SMDM) is being developed further in our FluoroDrop project.