Researcher

Allan Valenzuela

Research Expertise:Qualification of the Juvenile Göttingen Minipig for Pediatric Safety Testing of Single Stranded Oligonucleotides (SSOs) Single stranded oligonucleotide (SSO) therapeutics is a promising drug modality that enables selective modulation of currently difficult or even undruggable targets (e.g. cancer). Recently, the adult minipig has been characterized to be a suitable alternative non-rodent model in the adult safety assessment of SSOs as it has multiple ethical, and practical advantages over NHPs and dogs due to its favorable biological characteristics. Therefore, extending the work to qualify the juvenile minipig for pediatric safety testing of SSOs has been suggested. The aim of which is to assess whether differences in expression and activity of several nucleases, albumin concentrations, platelet factors, and blood-brain barrier occur in juvenile Göttingen Minipigs compared to adults and whether these can explain potential differences in in vivo toxicity to SSOs.

Keywords:PLATELETS, GENE EXPRESSION, PLATELET ACTIVATION, NUCLEASE, PROTEIN FUNCTION, DEVELOPMENTAL BIOLOGY, Veterinary medicine

Disciplines:Veterinary medicine, Other veterinary sciences, Other agricultural, veterinary and food sciences

Research techniques:Gene expression, nuclease activity, protein determination, platelet activation

Users of research expertise:Pharmaceutical companies, contact research organizations