NEW YORK(GenomeWeb) – Metabolomic Discoveries said today that it has joined the competence consortium NEU2 (new drugs against neurological diseases) to strengthen its product development portfolio in neurodegenerative diseases.
The company will partner with the Fraunhofer Institute for Molecular Biology and Applied Ecology (IME) researcher Ole Pless and researchers at the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf on a project to identify biomarker candidates for multiple sclerosis in metabolites and regulatory RNA molecules.
To date, no biomarkers have been reported that are able to reliably monitor the extent and progression of neurodegeneration in MS," Pless said in a statement. "These could facilitate the development of new and more efficient MS drugs," and Metabolomic Discoveries' participation in NEU2 is anticipated to strengthen his and his colleagues "efforts in finding and validating new metabolite-derived biomarker candidates."
IME is currently involved in four MS-related translational research projects supported by €4 million ($5 million) in funding.
Metabolomic Discoveries is a German research and analytical service firm and uses high-throughput GC-MS technology, as well as Q-TOF coupled to UPLC, for the analysis of metabolites.