Ezose Sciences Forms New Biomarker Agreement With Merck
Ezose Sciences Inc. recently announced it has entered an agreement with Merck, through a subsidiary, to collaborate on biomarker discovery research in the field of diabetes. The collaboration seeks to identify glycans, the complex carbohydrate component of glycoproteins, which can play a role in health and disease.
The research will make use of Ezose’s proprietary GlycanMap technology platform and focus on the identification of changes in glycan patterns on post-translationally modified proteins from human subjects. This work will build on a series of collaborative studies previously conducted with Merck. Financial terms and other details were not disclosed.
“Ezose is committed to enabling the adoption of glycomics into everyday biomedical research, including the important field of biomarker discovery,” said Kiyoshi Nagata, PhD, Chairman and CEO of Ezose. “We look forward to continuing our work with Merck.”
Glycomics is the study of glycans, the sugar chains that during the biochemical process known as glycosylation become attached to many proteins expressed by human cells. The particular glycans involved may crucially determine the function of the resulting glycoprotein and its role in health and disease. Glycomics is a natural complement to genomics and proteomics, but it has traditionally been hindered by the lack of practical high-throughput and quantitative technologies. Ezose’s proprietary GlycanMap platform addresses this need by combining, in an automated 96-well format, high-throughput glycan enrichment with specialized MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and custom bioinformatics to both structurally identify and quantitate glycans present in complex biological samples. Such glycans can serve as novel biomarkers to aid in the development of drugs, vaccines, and diagnostic tests, including companion diagnostics. In addition, glycomics holds potential for uncovering new therapeutic targets and mechanisms and for guiding the development and manufacture of glycosylated biologics and biosimilars.
Ezose Sciences Inc., based in
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