For targeted gene silencing, RNA interference (RNAi) presents multiple benefits of fast results, easy setup, high efficiency and broad applicability to various cell types. Its transient effects and dose-dependent behavior closely resembles that of small molecules. Yet current RNAi reagents suffer profoundly from poor specificity and variable gene silencing efficiencies, hindering their application as a drug discovery and gene research tool.

siRNA pools (siPOOLs) are high complexity pools of 30 optimally-designed siRNAs that were demonstrated to efficiently remove off-target effects and improve reliability of results (Hannus et al., 2014). The “Pack Hunter” (pooling) approach counters off-targeting of individual siRNAs by diluting their concentrations below thresholds that stimulate phenotypes. With proprietary design algorithms, siRNA sequences within siPOOLs are also optimized for maximal transcript coverage, efficient hybridization and filtered against paralogues, enabling highly efficient and specific gene silencing.

siPOOLs are suited for use against coding or long non-coding RNAs, selected isoforms or closely-related genes, and can be applied in combination to study synergistic gene interactions (Welsbie et al., 2017).

siPOOLs are ideal tools in drug discovery for target validation and target identification with custom or ready-made siPOOL libraries.