NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – The Belgian diagnostics developer VolitionRx and the UK-based preclinical drug safety testing firm Alcyomics will use a €779,493 ($1 million) grant to develop biomarkers for indicating inflammatory response, the companies said today.
Under the initiative, the partners will seek to identify novel epigenetic biomarkers for early inflammation and rejection responses linked to graft-versus host disease, which can cause complications in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.
The two-year project is funded by Eureka, a 41-member European network that seeks to spur the growth of Europe-based technology companies, through its Eurostars Programme, which is focused on supporting small and medium-sized enterprises.
VolitionRx will develop new applications for its Nucleosomics biomarker technology and new biomarkers for immune response. It will receive €420,000 for its contribution to the project. The Nucleosomics technology is used to identify and measure nucleosomes in the bloodstream, which indicate that cancer is present.
The partners also will use Alcyomics' Skimune model, under which it offers a line of assays for testing and measuring immunogenicity, hypersensitivity, allerginicity, efficacy, and potency.