EUR 4.3 million for new biomarker development center
Validation for Alzheimer’s Disease, COPD and Type-2 Diabetes
The Dutch Technology Foundation (STW) and seven industrial partners have awarded EUR 4.3 million to form the Biomarker Development Center, a public-private partnership to accelerate the validation and development of biomarkers. The center will focus on the development and validation of already identified biomarkers in three disease areas: Alzheimer’s Disease, COPD and Type-2 Diabetes.
Prof. Rainer Bischoff of the Analytical Biochemistry group, University of Groningen, will lead the project together with colleagues from the Radboud University Medical Center in Nijmegen, the Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam and the University Medical Center Groningen.
Validating for Alzheimer’s Disease, COPD and Type-2 Diabetes
The Biomarker Development Center will not focus on the discovery of novel biomarkers, but on the validation and development of already identified biomarkers following a rigorous selection from public and proprietary sources. Through a matrix structure, three biomarker validation technologies (high throughput sample preparation, high-sensitivity LC-MS/MS and ultrasensitive immunoassays) will be applied in three disease areas: Alzheimer’s Disease, COPD and Type-2 Diabetes.
Partnership researchers and industries
The funds are obtained from STW, part of the Dutch Organization for Scientific Research (NOW), combined with contributions by seven participating industrial partners of which TNO acts as independent data capture and analysis partner. Application of the output is ensured by the clinicians involved who will select and co-develop the candidate biomarkers, ensuring direct implementation in their patient care, whereas the industrial partners are first in line to commercialize the outcomes of the program.
Topsector Life Science & Health
The project objective originated from the alignment of public-private interests in the Topsector Life Science & Health, where accelerated biomarker development was identified as key factor to stimulate innovation in molecular diagnostics and personalized healthcare. Rainer Bischoff: "This grant for the Biomarker Development Center is an important first step towards further integrated biomarker research and development projects, particularly aiming at pharmaceutical industries and European funding.”
Last modified: | 07 August 2020 11.47 a.m. |
More news
-
23 July 2024
The chips of the future
Our computers use an unnecessarily large amount of energy, and we are reaching the limits of our current technology. That is why CogniGron is working on new materials that mimic the way the brain computes, and Professor Tamalika Banerjee will...
-
18 July 2024
Smart robots to make smaller chips
A robotic arm in a factory that repeatedly executes the same movement: that’s a thing of the past, states Ming Cao. Researchers of the University of Groningen are collaborating with high-tech companies to make production processes more autonomous.
-
17 July 2024
Veni-grants for ten researchers
The Dutch Research Council (NWO) has awarded a Veni grant of up to €320,000 each to ten researchers of the University of Groningen and the UMCG. The Veni grants are designed for outstanding researchers who have recently gained a PhD.