NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Stanford University's Park Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and Epinomics announced they have agreed to collaborate on improving cancer immunotherapies by utilizing biomarkers and epigenomics technology.
Immunotherapy has been shown to be a promising approach for the effective treatment of cancer, including achieving long term remission in patients who have not responded to existing therapies, Epinomics Cofounder Paul Giresi said in a statement. However, he noted, there is no gold standard for the application or monitoring for this type of therapy.
Epinomics' goal is to use epigenomics technology and deep analytics to guide personalized medicine efforts. The company has developed technology to analyze the epigenome which it describes as the "software" that programs how our body functions.
"The key to unlocking the potential in immuno-oncology has been the development of a new technology for reading the epigenome and creation of a deep analytics framework that serves as a central intelligence hub for understanding immune function in human health and disease," Giresi said.
The Stanford team, led by Park Institute Director Crystal Mackall, plans to utilize biomarkers defined by Epinomics' immune intelligence framework to improve outcomes and reduce adverse events in immunotherapy clinical trials.
"I know we will benefit greatly from the expertise Epinomics has in the epigenomics field, including their analytics platform that is advancing therapeutic development efforts and discovery of biomarkers for use in clinical care for immuno-oncology applications," Mackall added.