Horizon Discovery establishes three new Centers of Excellence in Asia

The new Centers are at Aichi Cancer Center, Japan, Seoul National University, South Korea, and the National Cancer Centre (NCC), Singapore. Horizon will support the three research centers in their application of its proprietary gene engineering technology, GENESIS™, to generate human isogenic cell lines harboring specific genes/mutations relating to cancer.

The Aichi Cancer Center is Horizon’s third CoE in Japan, and will focus on elucidation of the molecular mechanisms of viral proliferation and oncogenesis of Epstein Barr Virus, as part of the world-wide effort to combat virally-initiated cancers. The PI for this program will be Takayuki Murata.

Seoul National University, Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, will work with Horizon to create isogenic cell lines to study the regulatory mechanisms of BubR1 spindle assembly checkpoint, in order to increase understanding of the basis of genetic instability of cancer. Associate Professor Hyunsook Lee will be leading the program for Seoul National University.

Dr Daniel SW Tan, PI at the NCC Singapore, Department of Medical Oncology, will use Horizon’s technology to study the effects on cell lines of cancer-causing EGFR mutations, which are implicated in a wide range of cancer types.

“We are delighted these three new institutes have joined our Centers of Excellence program,” said Dr Rob Howes, Principal Scientist, Horizon. “We are excited to continue expanding our rAAV genome editing network into Asia, and hope to add to this further through 2013.”

The new human isogenic cell lines generated by the CoE’s will be exclusively licensed to Horizon in return for future product royalties.  Horizon will also have an exclusive option to license new intellectual property developed. This forms part of Horizon’s strategy to generate at least 2500 new X-MAN™ (gene X- Mutant And Normal) models of cancer, neurodegenerative, and cardiovascular disease. These models support drug discovery researchers in their efforts to understand how complex genetic diseases manifest themselves in real patients, and help rationalize many aspects of drug development, reducing the cost of bringing to market new personalized therapies.

These centers become part of the larger Horizon Centers of Excellence network, which includes high profile Institutions such as Cambridge University, UCL, Yale University, the National Cancer Institute, Washington University in St Louis and the National Cancer Centre, Japan.

Horizon sponsors an online community portal, www.rAAVers.org, for scientists working with rAAV-mediated and other forms of genome editing.



About Horizon Discovery http://www.horizondiscovery.com/

Horizon Discovery Limited (Horizon) is a leading provider of research tools to support translational genomics research and the development of personalized medicines. The Company’s proprietary rAAV gene-editing technology, GENESIS™, is industry leading. Using GENESIS, Horizon is able to alter any endogenous gene sequence of a human or mammalian cell-line quickly, reliably and without introducing unwanted and confounding genotypes and/or phenotypes.

Horizon has applied GENESIS to create over 500 X-MAN™ cell lines, the world’s first source of genetically-defined and patient-relevant human cell lines, accurately modeling the disease-causing mutations found in cancer patients. These ‘patients-in-a-test-tube’ are being used by academic and industry leaders to identify the effect of individual or compound genetic mutations on drug activity, patient responsiveness, and resistance, leading to the successful prediction of which patient sub-groups will respond to currently-available and future drug treatments. This enables the design of shorter, more focused, and less expensive clinical trials, ultimately providing the tools to identify the ‘right drugs’ for the ‘right patients’ based upon the unique genetic mutations that define their disease.

In addition to the X-MAN cell lines, Horizon provides GENESIS and X-MAN derived products and services, with industrial applications in: bio-pharmaceutical process optimization; clinical diagnostic development; drug discovery & development; and the provision of reference standards for genomic-based clinical research platforms.


GENESIS and X-MAN are registered trademarks of Horizon Discovery Limited.

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Contacts:

 

At Horizon:

Dr Rob Howes

Principal Scientist

Tel: +44 (0) 1223 655 584

Email: r.howes@horizondiscovery.com

 

Media enquiries:

Katie Odgaard

Zyme Communications

Tel: +44 (0)7787 502 947

Email katie.odgaard@zymecommunications.com
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