# Nanoscale Tools for Inosine Sequencing

> **NIH NIH R44** · ELECTRONIC BIOSCIENCES, INC. · 2022 · $1,000,000

## Abstract

Project Summary
During this program, Electronic BioSciences (EBS) will fully develop and demonstrate a completely new RNA
sequencing technology capable of directly sequencing the most common product of RNA editing: inosine (I).
Cells diversify the coding potential of their mRNA and regulatory small RNAs by enzymatic conversion of
adenosine (A) to I, i.e., A-to-I editing, in which the edited base codes differently in mRNA, guides alternative
mRNA splicing, and renders miRNA and tRNA functional in cells. The current inability to directly sequence
sites of A-to-I RNA editing with quantitative readout (i.e., profile or determine their ratio within given
sequences) seriously limits the ability of researchers to fully understand this epitranscriptomic process in
disease. Thus, EBS aims to fill this technology gap by developing a single-molecule sequencing technique
capable of directly identifying the four canonical nucleotides along with I, all with high resolution and high
accuracy. In turn, such a technology development will improve the understanding of RNA function, including
the role and significance of I, to enable better diagnostics, prognostics, and therapeutics. At the end of this
Phase II effort, EBS will have developed a beta-prototype I sequencing system and demonstrated its complete
functionality and analytical capabilities for a variety of RNA types as well as benchmarked the sequencing
results against current state-of-the-art approaches.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10437956
- **Project number:** 1R44HG012409-01
- **Recipient organization:** ELECTRONIC BIOSCIENCES, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Eric Ervin
- **Activity code:** R44 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2022
- **Award amount:** $1,000,000
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2022-07-01 → 2024-06-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10437956

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10437956, Nanoscale Tools for Inosine Sequencing (1R44HG012409-01). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10437956. Licensed CC0.

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