For Immediate Release: September 20, 2001
Contact: DMS Communications (603) 650-1492
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Proteom Establishes Research Collaboration with Professor Alan Eastman of Dartmouth Medical School
Hanover, NH Proteom, a bioinformatics company based in Cambridge, England able to use its proprietary informatics platform to design peptides to bind with specific regions of a given protein, has announced a collaboration with professor Alan Eastmans group at Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire.
Alan Eastman, PhD, professor of pharmacology and toxicology at the Dartmouth Medical School, has worked extensively on apoptosis, the physiological process that leads to cell death. Understanding the pathways that cause apoptosis can help identify new targets that might lead to the identification of new cancer treatments.
The collaboration will involve Proteom using its in silico proteomics approach to design peptide inhibitors targeted against certain apoptosis pathway proteins that are the focus of Alan Eastman's research. His laboratory will test these peptides in a series of biological assays to determine their ability to bind to the pertinent regions of the proteins in question. It is hoped that this initial phase will lead to a wider collaboration that could ultimately include the joint development of novel cancer therapies.
Gareth Roberts, Proteoms CEO, said: "We are very pleased to begin this collaboration with Dartmouth and professor Eastmans group. We feel that the calibre of his research shows tremendous potential in the cancer field and the initiation of this project reflects our intention to further capture the value that exists in our peptides as we begin to develop our own drug discovery programme."
Professor Alan Eastman said: "The collaboration with Proteom is a wonderful opportunity for our group. We and several other groups at Dartmouth are conducting a number of exciting research projects that hold promise for a better understanding of the treatment of cancer. This collaboration will help to strengthen our mission to develop new cures for cancer." For further information please contact: Proteom: Barry Cartwright, Business Development Director, Tel: 44 (0) 1223 496180, bjcartwright@proteom.com
About Proteom Limited
Proteom, based in Cambridge, UK, is a bioinformatics company which is defining the rules by which proteins interact. It is able to use its proprietary technology to design peptide ligands (as therapeutics, the basis for molecule design and components of high throughput screens), identify binding sites on proteins and define protein-protein interactions.
Its technology is validated in biological systems and Proteom is seeking to work with companies either designing peptides to proteins of interest in their drug discovery programmes or under a more collaborative relationship, particularly with companies with synergistic technologies such as gene expression, peptide delivery or chemi-informatics. More information is available on its website www.proteom.com.
