Genomatix Software, the Center for Prostate Disease Research at the Uniformed Service University of the Health Sciences, and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine have inked a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement that extends ongoing research efforts in prostate disease research.
Genomatix said this week that the joint research will aim to differentiate patients with favorable versus poor prognosis at the time of their diagnosis as well as to determine primary treatment using definitive genetic markers.
The collaboration will combine CPDR's translational research resources with Genomatix's data-analysis software to locate novel androgen receptor binding sites in the genome and to analyze prostate cancer metastasis using model systems and clinical specimens.
Specifically, "we are bringing our capabilities for deep drill data analysis into the biology of the enormous capabilities that the organizations, HJF and USU, bring in terms of sample collection, sample isolation, homogenous cell population isolations. and so on," a Genomatix spokesperson told BioInform.
In the past, Genomatix and USU's CPDR have partnered on prostate cancer research using microarray data; however, this project will use next-generation sequence data.
"Next-generation sequencing opens a new dimension in biomarker research and will allow a finer grained, unbiased look at some of the genomic mechanisms behind prostate disease," Genomatix founder Thomas Werner said in a statement.
He added that using NGS data will provide an "opportunity for the discovery of new prognostic biomarkers, some of which also may be targets for therapeutic intervention and treatment monitoring."