NEW YORK – Metabolomics firm Metabolon said Tuesday that it has entered a strategic partnership with the Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITRAN) and A Multicentre Biomarker Resource Strategy in ALS (AMBROSIA) to study amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other motor neuron diseases.
Under the collaboration, Metabolon will use its metabolomics platform to profile matched plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) from patients with a motor neuron disease as well as plasma and cerebrospinal fluid from healthy controls, looking for biomarkers that could accelerate understanding of these conditions.
Samples will come from the AMBROSIA cohort of individuals from three UK tertiary ALS referral clinics in Sheffield, Oxford, and London.
Financial and other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
"We aim to understand what goes wrong with metabolism in ALS/MND compared to healthy control participants and to identify potential pathways that can be tackled with novel therapeutic approaches," Pamela Shaw, director of SITRAN and professor of neurology at the University of Sheffield, said in a statement. "We also aim to discover metabolic biomarkers specific to different subgroups of patients with ALS/MND, which may allow precision medicine approaches — targeting the right treatment to the right patient group."
"Metabolon is thrilled to collaborate with SITRAN, a leading institution in translational neuroscience, and AMBROSIA," Karl Bradshaw, chief business officer at Metabolon, said in a statement. "Together, we aim to drive significant progress in ALS research and biomarker discovery, bringing us closer to effective diagnostic and therapeutic solutions for this challenging disease."