NEW YORK (GenomeWeb) – Merck today announced it would join the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) by making a C$7.5 million (US$6 million) contribution to the network.
The investment supports research projects to develop molecular probes to study epigenetic mechanisms of gene regulation. Use of the probes will expand the understanding of biology in multiple disease areas, particularly cancer and inflammatory diseases, the firm said in a statement.
Merck and SGC said that the supported projects "focus on precompetitive research to develop" the chemical probes.
The SGC's public-private partnership model is meant to advance novel drug targets into private sector drug discovery programs. Research collaborators at academic institutions generate knowledge, technologies, and tools to discover and characterize these targets.
SGC is funded by Abbvie, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Eli Lilly Canada, Genome Canada, GlaxoSmithKline, Janssen, Merck Canada, Novartis, the Ontario Ministry of Research & Innovation, Pfizer, Takeda, and the Wellcome Trust.