Vivo-morpholinos are a promising tool for gene silencing. These oligonucleotide analogs transiently silence genes by blocking either translation or pre-mRNA splicing. Little to no toxicity has been reported for vivo-morpholino treatment. Huffines Affiliate, Dr. David Ferguson, recently published in BioTechniques. His publication titled "Lessons learned from vivo-morpholinos: How to avoid vivo-morpholino toxicity." explains studies conducted in their lab where treatment of mice with vivo-morpholinos resulted in high mortality rates. The paper investigates the mechanism by which some vivo-morpholinos increase mortality rates and proposes techniques to alleviate vivo-morpholino toxicity.

Click here for more information about Dr. David Ferguson and the Children's Nutritional Research Center at the Baylor College of Medicine.