Chemicon International and Axordia have signed an exclusive agreement to co-develop new antibody markers from Axordia's proprietary human embryonic stem (ES) cell lines
Axordia will contribute proprietary expertise and materials for antibody generation and antibody characterisation and Chemicon will commercialise the new antibody research tools arising from this collaboration.
Through this agreement, Chemicon will be able to supply new antibody markers to the worldwide ES cell research community.
Chemicon is recognised as a worldwide leader in providing antibodies and other reagents, kits, and cell culture supplements to the academic, pharmaceutical, and biotechnology markets.
Axordia, based in Sheffield, is one of the UK's leading stem cell research companies and has two of the world's leading scientists in this field in Professors Peter Andrews and Harry Moore.
Professor Andrews was one of the first researchers in Britain to study the human ES cell lines and his work on human ES cells follows pioneering work in the study of human embryonal carcinoma cells, a malignant equivalent of human ES cells, which defined many tools that now underpin the study of human ES cells.
Professor Moore is a leader in human ES cell derivation and recently announced work showing that human ES cells can form the precursors of sperm and eggs in the laboratory.
"Chemicon is pleased to be entering into this exclusive collaborative agreement with Axordia, and its world class scientists, in the stem cell marker field.
"This agreement will allow us to expand our successful portfolio of stem cell antibody reagents," said Jeffrey Linton, president of Chemicon.
"New antibodies resulting from this exclusive collaboration will increase the inventive process already being provided by Chemicon to thousands of human ES cell researchers worldwide.
"In addition, we look forward to furthering our collaboration with Axordia to co-develop and market additional innovative human ES cell products," stated Linton.
"Axordia believes that antibodies along with other key discovery technologies will be crucial in enabling stem cells to deliver their full potential to palliate and cure some of the most debilitating diseases.
"Our partnership with a market leader in research and drug discovery tools represents a powerful step in bringing this potential forward and is recognition of our world class expertise in developing the tools needed to make the promise of stem cell technology a reality," said Paul Gerskowitch, CEO of Axordia.
