2014/09/16

Scottish Ubiquigent will sell a product developed by CIC bioGUNE and Histocell to research on cancer and Parkinson's disease

- The project is born from research projects undertaken in the CIC bioGUNE research centre on genetically modified mouse cells.

- Basque company Histocell will be responsible for the product manufacturing process, which will be marketed by the Scottish company Ubiquigent.

(Bilbao, September 2014).- From the lab to the market in just 4 years. A research project that started in 2010 at the CIC bioGUNE Basque biosciences research centre, has resulted in a product that will detect the proteins involved in diseases such as cancer and Parkinson's disease. This product, which is more efficient than the methods currently used, will allow researchers and pharmaceutical companies study how these diseases are triggered and search therapeutic targets to create new drugs in the future.

Ikerbasque researcher Ugo Mayor's laboratory at CIC bioGUNE has developed genetically modified mice whose cells can trap such proteins, as described in the papers recently published in two prestigious scientific journals, Journal of Proteome Research and Molecular & Cellular Proteomics.

CIC bioGUNE later transferred this knowledge to the Basque biotechnology company Histocell, responsible for product manufacturing and its final presentation. Thus, Histocell is the manufacturer and supplier of the final product to Ubiquigent. The cycle finishes at the Scottish company, Ubiquigent, which is already selling the product around the world, after signing a commercial exploitation agreement with the Basque research centre and Histocell.

Ugo Mayor, who was responsible for the research that first led to the MEF cells, considers that "this process is a collaboration success case involving different local and international institutions, which has transferred the results from basic research to the market."

- MEF Cells

The product consists in the so-called MEF cells ('Mouse embryonic fibroblast'), which are provided with a molecule that can trap ubiquitin, a protein related to diseases such as cancer, Parkinson's disease or the Angelman Syndrome (a disease that causes learning delay and speech difficulties in children). Ubiquitin is a small protein that modifies the behaviour of other proteins when they are bonded. It could be described as a "label" that binds to other proteins to regulate their functions within the cell. If this process, known as ubiquitination, does not work properly, the proteins act uncontrollably, which can result in different diseases. Therefore, studying ubiquitinationhas become one of the greatest challenges of the scientific community.

The MEF cells created at CIC bioGUNE detect these "ubiquitin-labelled" proteins and in a more efficient way than conventional methods. This protein detection method is a practical solution for research centres that wish to learn how the ubiquitination process works in different biological process, as well as for pharmaceutical companies that are searching for therapeutic targets for the development of new drugs.

- Collaboration

This product is the result of several studies that started four years ago by Ikerbasque researcher Ugo Mayor at CIC bioGUNE which have been published in scientific journals such as Journal of Proteome Research and Molecular & Cellular Proteomics.

After developing genetically modified mice including an ubiquitin marker-something like a trap that captures this molecule- in their cells, CIC bioGUNE reached an agreement with Basque company Histocell, where useful cells are extracted and expanded to obtain the millions of cells needed, which are ultimately packaged in vials for commercial use.

The last step of this process is conducted by the British company Ubiquigent, specialised in ubiquitin-targeted treatments. This firm has an extensive client portfolio from all over the globe and is responsible for marketing the product, as a result from the commercial exploitation agreement signed with CIC bioGUNE and Histocell.

"This project is a perfect example of the goals that guide the activities of CIC bioGUNE. We are devoted to developing first-level basic research in the field of biosciences and we try to make it useful by generating patents, companies or licensing this knowledge so other companies can market it", says José María Mato, general manager of the centre.

On the other hand, Julio Font, General Manager of Histocell considers that "this agreement is a success story of collaboration and transfer of know-how of a research centre like CIC bioGUNE building on Histocell's experience in the development and manufacture of cutting-edge cell products to launch a new biotechnological product onto the market."