About Us

Incorporated in 2004 as a 501(c)6 nonprofit registered with the US government, the Oligonucleotide Therapeutics Society is an open, nonprofit forum to foster academia and industry-based research and development of oligonucleotide therapeutics.

The OTS was conceived in 2001 in a small secluded castle in Tuscany, Italy, by an international group of renowned oligonucleotide scientists. The idea of the founders was to bring together the expertise from different angles of oligonucleotide research to create synergies and to bring the field of oligonucleotides to its full therapeutic potential. A new era of oligonucleotide drugs was envisioned that would change the landscape of therapeutic modalities very much like the impact that antibodies had on human therapeutics over the last decade.  Therapeutic oligonucleotides include a wide spectrum of molecules with different chemistries and functional properties such as antisense, RNA interference, immunorecognition and aptamer binding. While the idea of antisense oligonucleotides to specifically target single genes dates back to the 1970s, one of the most fascinating insights of recent years was that nature itself uses endogenous oligonucleotides for the regulation of gene function and control of cellular homeostasis on a large scale Thus, like antibodies, oligonucleotides can be regarded as natural compounds that act through natural mechanisms.  The great advances in nucleic acid chemistry now allow to make not only large quantities but also a large variety of molecules with distinctly unique and desirable properties. Together with changes of sequence and oligonucleotide design, the chemical space available for oligonucleotide development is enormous. Now with our recent insight in how nature uses oligonucleotides for the regulation of cellular functions and defense mechanisms, the therapeutic application of this class of molecules becomes much more straight forward. Consequently the OTS covers therapeutic oligonucleotide development from research of basic principles to preclinical models and through clinical application. The highly regarded annual OTS meeting draws experts from all over the world for cross-disciplinary exchange spanning expertise in chemistry and delivery, to biology, immunology and clinical medicine. It is the intense scientific exchange between attendees during our annual meetings that sets the stage for groundbreaking new ideas.