NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Oxford BioDynamics announced today that it has signed a collaboration agreement with Holos Life Sciences to develop non-invasive epigenetic biomarkers linked to sports-related concussions.
Under the terms of the agreement, Holos will supply the participants' blood samples, while Oxford will provide its EpiSwitch platform and methodology for the development, evaluation, and validation of epigenetic biomarkers. The test's biomarker readouts will be based on minimally invasive blood testing.
The partners will use EpiSwitch to establish and monitor epigenetic changes and potential physiological reprogramming caused by a sports-related concussion, which in turn may help quantify the risk of prolonged effects of sports-related concussions and potentially improve recovery and rehabilitation.
"We believe that we can make an important contribution to the analysis of sport-related concussions, help improve the rehabilitation protocols and directly assist individual athletes and their teams in their training planning," Oxford CEO Christian Millar said in a statement.
Based on monitoring both before and after the concussion, the team will identify biomarkers and evaluate them to assist in determining the changes in a patient's epigenetic profile caused by the concussive event.
"The ability to identify objective epigenetic biomarkers has the potential to help evaluate sports-related concussions and may provide us with a tool to measure any long-term impact they have on individuals," Holos CEO Scott Callender said in a statement.
In October, Oxford announced that it made progress toward developing and validating epigenetic signatures for breast cancer and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.