NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – GeneArt has received a contract from the UK’s Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute to synthesize as many as 600 tailor-made genes over the next ten months, which the institute will use to identify mechanisms involved in genetic and infectious diseases.
The Sanger Institute is currently expanding its program focused on identifying the novel human extracellular receptor-ligand interactions that may be involved in genetic diseases such as cardiovascular disease and infectious diseases. These studies will involve screening for interactions within protein libraries that make up the “cell surface repertoire of differentiated human blood cells, and also some pathogens,” Regensburg, Germany-based GeneArt said in a statement.
The institute also will use the protein libraries to determine the functional consequences of the identified interactions in cell-based assays.
Financial terms of the agreement were not released.