Dharmacon, Inc.

Dharmacon

Type	Subsidiary
Industry	Biotech
Founded	1995 by Stephen Scaringe
Headquarters	Lafayette, CO, USA
Key people	Mitch Kennedy, General Manager
Products	RNAi, siRNA, miRNA, shRNA, Transfection Reagents
Employees	150 (2007)
Website	http://www.thermo.com/dharmacon

Dharmacon was founded in 1995 by Stephen Scaringe as Dharmacon Research to develop and commercialize a new technology for RNA oligonucleotide synthesis. The original Dharmacon focus and vision was to develop 2'-ACE RNA technology as the standard for RNA synthesis and to advance RNA oligo-dependent applications and technologies. When RNA interference (RNAi) emerged in the late 1990s, Dharmacon was poised to provide RNAi-related products to the multitude of academic and industry researchers. Dharmacon has become an important resource for those investigating the mechanisms of siRNA (small interfering RNA)-induced gene knockdown and applying the specificity and potency of RNAi to human biotherapeutics. Dharmacon's expertise in bioinformatics, RNA biology, and synthesis chemistry has allowed it to develop a complete line of products for the RNAi researcher.

In November 2002, Dharmacon Research, Inc. officially changed its name to Dharmacon, Inc., to reflect the increasing capabilities and future growth potential of the company, as it had advanced beyond research and development and into whole solutions for RNA oligo-dependent applications and technologies. In March 2004, Dharmacon became a wholly owned subsidiary of Fisher Scientific International, Inc.^[1] In November 2006, Fisher Scientific International, Inc. merged with Thermo Electron Corporation to become Thermo Fisher Scientific.^[2]

References

1. ^ Acquisition of Dharmacon, Inc. by Fisher Scientific, press release, February 11, 2004
2. ^ Merger of Thermo Electron and Fisher Scientific Completed, Forming Thermo Fisher Scientific, press release, November 9, 2006