The University of Cambridge, UCL, Cellcentric, Sigma-Aldrich and the Automation Partnership have collaborated to define markers of epigenetic reprogramming, supported by government funding.
Cellcentric has led the consortium in winning the GBP1.1m funding award from the Technology Strategy Board to support research into the definition of markers of epigenetic change.
The company will work with Prof Anne Ferguson-Smith and Dr Ludovic Vallier at the University of Cambridge, and Prof Stephan Beck at the University College London (UCL) Cancer Institute.
The research, and its translation into product opportunities, will be supported by Cellcentric, Sigma Life Science (a division of Sigma-Aldrich) and the Automation Partnership (TAP).
Novel tools for understanding epigenetic processes are a rapidly growing sector, estimated to be expanding by 80 per cent CAGR and predicted to be worth more than USD330m by 2013 (BCC Research).
Epigenetics is the modification of DNA and its associated proteins.
The epigenetic imprint is dynamic and plays a key role in cell fate control.
When epigenetic processes go awry, disease can result.
Conversely, by modulating the epigenetic imprint, mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent and thus have characteristics of stem cells.
A key unmet need is the availability of reliable markers to measure epigenetic-related reprogramming events within cells.
Such tools will be required for monitoring the quality of induced pluripotent cells and their differentiation potential.
The collaboration will address this issue, which has implications for regenerative medicine, identifying novel markers of disease and improving disease modelling and drug screening.
