Cirena Inc. licensed a validated long RNA purification technology from Agilent Technologies, Inc. as it looks to expand access to high purity RNA constructs used in genome editing and functional genomics research. The agreement targets a persistent limitation in synthetic RNA production—maintaining chemical purity as construct length exceeds 100 nucleotides—which has constrained scalability and reproducibility in longer RNA designs.
Maintaining high chemical purity becomes increasingly difficult as RNA length exceeds 100 nucleotides, limiting the reliability and scalability of long RNA synthesis using conventional purification workflows. Agilent’s validated, advanced purification approach addresses this bottleneck, supporting purification of longer RNA constructs at purity levels that are difficult to achieve with standard industry methods.
Higher purity 100–300 nt RNA enables improved performance in applications such as pegRNA and gRNA based genome editing and functional genomics assays, where synthesis derived impurities can directly impact editing efficiency and reproducibility.
“Agilent’s purification IP reflects years of foundational work aimed at overcoming the limitations of conventional long RNA purification,” said Thomas Redder, an Associate VP of Global Strategic Business Development and IP Transactions at Agilent Technologies. “Licensing this technology to Cirena enables broader research access to high purity long RNA constructs that have historically been challenging to produce with consistency and scale.”
"By integrating Agilent’s purification technology with our RNA synthesis platform, Cirena will address purity and scalability constraints that have limited routine production of longer RNA constructs,” said Doug Dellinger, CEO of Cirena. “For biotechnology and pharmaceutical teams, this enables more reliable access to high purity 100–300 nt RNA for genome editing, functional genomics, and other research workflows where experimental outcomes are sensitive to synthesis-derived impurities.”
RNA synthesis at Cirena is designed to maintain sequence integrity for demanding CRISPR, long non-coding RNA and functional genomics applications. The addition of Agilent’s purification approach streamlines production workflows and reduces turnaround times, supporting gRNA, pegRNA, and related RNA designs. Cirena provides global delivery to academic, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical research teams working in areas including genome editing, oncology research, vaccine development, and gene regulation studies.
The licensed purification technology supports routine production of high purity long RNA constructs across length ranges that are challenging to purify using conventional industry approaches, enabling more consistent performance in downstream research applications.
About Cirena, Inc.
Cirena provides long and ultra long, high purity RNA for researchers in therapeutics, gene editing, and functional genomics. The company’s proprietary technology-developed at the University of Colorado Boulder by the teams of Prof. Marvin Caruthers and Dr. Douglas Dellinger-enables rapid turnaround of RNA constructs longer than 100 nucleotides with high chemical purity. Cirena is headquartered at the BioFrontiers Institute at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Researchers can learn about Cirena’s early customer program or request evaluation materials at www.cirena.com or by contacting RNAtech@cirena.com. Cirena RNA products are intended for research use only.
