NEW YORK — Metabolomics firm Metabolon said on Tuesday that it has partnered with the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) on the identification of biomarkers for a range of health conditions.
Under the terms of the deal, Metabolon will access data from an NTU Singapore-led population cohort study to identify biomarkers related to the prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of a range of conditions.
The study, called Health for Life in Singapore, or HELIOS, focuses on environmental, lifestyle, and genetic factors that cause chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and heart disease in Singapore. It aims to recruit up to 50,000 people and is being conducted in collaboration with Singapore's National Healthcare Group and Imperial College London.
Additional terms of the alliance were not disclosed.
"HELIOS' data represent one of the most extensive sets of lifestyle and health metrics measuring blood profiles, skin health, visual acuity, cognitive assessment, bone density, liver function, muscle and body mass, lung health, cardiovascular fitness, and arterial stiffness along with genetic variants," Metabolon Chief Scientific Officer Rangaprasad Sarangarajan said in a statement. "While genomics data provide the risk of disease, Metabolon will take it to the next level providing a comprehensive functional readout of biological processes using metabolomics to identify biomarker signatures that represent transitions from homeostasis to disease."
Earlier this month, Morrisville, North Carolina-based Metabolon partnered with the Swedish Biomarkers For Identifying Neurodegenerative Disorders Early and Reliably 2 Study to develop novel biomarkers for neurological diseases.