News
New core removes barriers to RNA-based research, drug discovery efforts at U-M
Originally published in The University Record on September 25, 2026
By Emily Kagey
Life Sciences Institute
The Nucleic Acids Therapeutics (NATx) Core recently opened at the University of Michigan Life Sciences Institute, expanding opportunities for investigators across the university and around the world to develop nucleic acid–based therapies and research tools.
Nucleic acids — DNA and RNA — provide promising platforms for developing both new treatments to address unmet medical needs in the clinic and tools to investigate challenging scientific questions in the lab.
The field of nucleic acids-based drug discovery remains fairly nascent, with fewer than 30 RNA-based therapies receiving FDA approval since their first introduction in 1998, and most of those coming in the past five years. More recent advances, however, including the rapid development and deployment of antisense oligonucleotides and gene editing medicines for ultra-rare genetic diseases, have drawn new attention to the power of RNA-based therapies.
“Nucleic acids as research tools and therapeutics are enabling rapid advancement in science and medicine, we want to provide a service to help these tools reach their full potential,” said NATx Core Faculty Director Michelle Hastings. “With this new core, U-M is now one of the only places where researchers can source these types of molecules at the academic level at an accessible price point.”
The core offers comprehensive services to both university and external partners that has not been traditionally available through commercial services, including the design, synthesis and early testing of custom-made oligonucleotides. Beyond molecule production and testing, the core also provides consultations and hands-on scientific support to guide experimental design and help investigators identify new strategies and guide experimental design for using nucleic acids to answer important scientific and disease-related questions.
“Our goal is to be an end-to-end resource that lowers the barriers — both cost barriers and knowledge barriers — to nucleic acid research for the U-M biomedical community,” said Katelyn Lacy, operations manager of the NATx Core. “Our approach allows for lower costs and greater support in terms of working with investigators on oligo design, synthesis of custom modifications and iterative optimization of candidate molecules.”
The core is already fielding both clinical and discovery science projects, including a drug development campaign targeting a rare disease that has been found in current U-M patients.
The LSI is home to a suite of four other research cores and facilities that support drug discovery and basic science projects from across campus — including the Center for Chemical Genomics, the Center for Structural Biology, the Natural Products Discovery Core, and the Cryo-EM Facility — as well as the campuswide Michigan Drug Discovery program.
This co-location with Michigan Drug Discovery and other LSI cores, as well as the proximity to both Central Campus and the Medical Campus, will enable NATx staff to accommodate more users from across U-M, as well as nonprofit, government and industry researchers, Lacy said.
“Having this resource embedded within U-M will enable more research with real impacts on research and ultimately patients,” said Hastings, who is also the Pfizer Upjohn Research Professor of Pharmacology in the Medical School and professor of medicinal chemistry in the College of Pharmacy. “I think it’s going to be a gamechanger in terms of advancing the whole field of nucleic acids research.”
Call out your cores: a new tool for citing research cores
The Research Cores Office is pleased to announce the implementation of Research Resource Identifiers (RRIDs), a new tool for acknowledging and tracking the pivotal contributions of research cores in scholarly publications. RRIDs are unique identifiers used to cite research resources, including model organisms, antibodies, software tools and research cores. By utilizing RRIDs, researchers can refer to the specific resources used in their studies, enhancing transparency, reproducibility and impact. It will also standardize tracking acknowledgements, allowing our research cores to be more competitive in obtaining funding for state-of-the-art technologies that can advance research.
To include the RRID, add it to the experimental procedures or supplemental procedures section where the services or equipment the core provided is listed. Also include any other grants that are required to be cited by the core, such as NIH S10s, which are commonly used to purchase equipment.
For assistance or questions, please email [email protected]
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