NEW YORK – SomaLogic said on Monday that it has entered a strategic collaboration with Pittsburgh-based healthcare provider UPMC to explore how the company's proteomics platform could be used to impact clinical care.
Under the collaboration, the parties will use Boulder, Colorado-based SomaLogic's SomaScan platform for clinical research and development projects looking at how proteomic data can potentially be used to, for instance, inform doctors and patients as to a person's real-time health status or disease risk.
"As part of our commitment to investing in translational science that significantly improves the lives of patients, we are evaluating whether a proteomics approach can help clinicians identify patients at the highest risk for major health events, like heart attack or stroke," Suresh Mulukutla, an interventional cardiologist at UPMC and director of analytics for the UPMC Heart and Vascular Institute, said in a statement. "That will allow us to better target interventions and care.”
"UPMC is committed to supporting innovative healthcare technologies with the goal of providing life-changing medicine to our patients and communities," said Matthias Kleinz, senior VP and head of translational sciences at UPMC Enterprises. "With SomaLogic, we will explore the impact of its proteomics technology on optimizing therapy selection and resource allocation across a large integrated health system like UPMC."
"Working with UPMC, a leading innovator in healthcare, allows us to evaluate together the value of proteomics as a tool for precision medicine and a means for clinicians in the future to more accurately assess risk and tailor care for their patients," SomaLogic CEO Roy Smythe added in a statement.
SomaLogic's SomaScan platform uses the company's aptamer-based affinity reagents, called Somamers, to measure proteins in patient samples, typically in blood. The platform recently expanded to measure 7,000 proteins per sample.
This month the company listed on the Nasdaq after completing a business combination with special purpose acquisition company CM Life Sciences II that raised $630 million in gross proceeds.