NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Metabolomics firm Metabolon and Spain's IMDEA Food today said they are collaborating on projects to develop functional foods and diagnostic tools.
The collaboration will focus on tools and food aimed at preventing prevalent chronic illnesses with high societal impact, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, obesity, and neurological diseases, where in-depth studies characterizing the molecular underpinnings of the benefits of food and food components are needed, Metabolon and IMDEA Food said.
"Collaborative studies with IMDEA Food will employ the combined resources and expertise of our organizations to identify appropriate biomarkers of disease risk and prevention and to monitor biological impact of nutritional components in foods," Steve Watkins, CTO of Metabolon, said in a statement. "This strategic collaboration is pivotal to advancing our understanding of nutrition's influence on health and disease."
IMDEA Food Chairman and Scientific Director Jose Ordovas added, "A combined functional genomics and metabolomics approach involving complementary technologies and multidisciplinary expertise is paramount to achieve the scientific rigor and level of evidence required to bring nutrition-based personalized medicine to the public with the final objective of living longer and healthier."
IMDEA Food is a translational research institute and part of the Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies.
Financial and other terms of the agreement were not disclosed.