NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Cellzome today said that it will lead a project that has received a €1.1 million ($1.5 million) grant from the UK's Technology Strategy Board to develop tools that better characterize human stem cells.
Heidelberg, Germany-based Cellzome will collaborate with Pfizer's Neusentis unit, the University of Sheffield, and Plasticell on the project, which will use Cellzome's Episphere technology to identify protein "fingerprints" that predict potentially deleterious changes in stem cells. The grant covers two years of funding.
The firm announced earlier this year that it would collaborate with Neusentis on studying epigenetic mechanisms involved in stem cell differentiation.
Cellzome noted that this grant is the third it has received this year leveraging its chemoproteomics platform. The other two include its part in the Blueprint collaboration to decipher epigenomes of the hematopoietic system, under which it will receive €1.2 million, and its efforts in the Orchid project, under which it is using its platform to help identify new treatments for tuberculosis.