MitoKor Joins Forces With the Buck Institute for Age Research, the University Of Oregon and UC San Diego to Define the Human Mitochondrial Proteome
SAN DIEGO, Jan. 16 /PRNewswire/ -- MitoKor today announced the signing of a scientific research collaboration agreement with the Buck Institute for Age Research of Novato, California, and a technology transfer and option agreement with the University of Oregon at Eugene. These agreements are in addition to a collaborative agreement in place between MitoKor and the University of California, San Diego. Through these agreements, MitoKor has established relationships with world-renowned scientists to decipher the human mitochondrial proteome. Mitochondrial dysfunction is a major contributing factor in the pathophysiology of major diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases and type 2 diabetes mellitus.
``By focusing on the mitochondrion we are able to effectively analyze a fundamental subsection of the total proteins in a cell,'' commented Bradford W. Gibson, Ph.D., Professor & Director, Chemistry Core at The Buck Institute. ``This subset provides an estimated 2,000 individual proteins, which can be analyzed effectively in order to identify protein-protein interactions and better understand protein function.''
The collaboration with the Buck Institute is aimed at isolating, sequencing, and identifying proteins present in the mitochondria of normal human tissue. Scientists at MitoKor and the Buck Institute will use their expertise and proprietary rights in mass spectroscopic analysis of protein sequences to analyze mitochondrial samples. The University of Oregon has provided MitoKor with important technology and materials to aid in the research, including separation technologies and monoclonal antibodies developed by Dr. Roderick Capaldi and his coworkers at the University. The large volume of data derived from the collaboration will be managed and analyzed at MitoKor, with the goal of obtaining an annotated human mitochondrial proteome database that can form the basis for future comparative studies employing mitochondria from diseased tissues. Scientists at the University of California and the San Diego Super Computing Center will collaborate with MitoKor in the bioinformatics aspects of the work to establish processes of annotation and organization of the information compiled during the mitochondrial proteome project.
``Only approximately 10% to 20% of the human mitochondrial proteome has so far been characterized to any significant degree,'' said Dr. Neil Howell, Vice President of Research at MitoKor. ``By initially obtaining a detailed map of the normal human mitochondrial proteome we will have a powerful discovery tool to identify biologically relevant targets and diagnostic markers of diseases known to be associated with mitochondrial dysfunction.''
``We have established agreements with world-renowned scientists, each with skills and resources that can be focused on deciphering the human mitochondrial proteome,'' commented Walter H. Moos, Ph.D., Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of MitoKor. ``The information generated from this project will be a valuable addition to our integrated drug discovery and development capabilities that are directed toward understanding the role of mitochondria in diseases of adult life and the aging process.''
MitoKor is a biotechnology company focused on the commercial applications of mitochondrial medicine. Mitochondria are the batteries and engines of cells, driving energy production, metabolism, and cell death, as well as other key signaling pathways. Mitochondria also house the ``other'' human genome, inherited only from the mother. MitoKor has completed sequencing the mitochondrial genome of more than 800 individuals, which is believed to be the world's largest database of its type. MitoKor and its wholly-owned subsidiaries, Mimotopes Pty. Ltd. and Apollo BioPharmaceutics, Inc., have established core competencies in biotechnology, combinatorial drug discovery and diagnostic development technologies, as well as in mitochondrial proteomics and genomics, disease modeling, pharmacogenomics, and drug development. In addition to its comprehensive and integrated technology base, the Company has two mitochondrial drug candidates currently in clinical trials and a range of preclinical candidates that have demonstrated therapeutic efficacy in a number of disease models. For more information, please visit our Web sites at mitokor.com and mimotopes.com.
The Buck Institute is a non-profit organization that conducts clinically relevant biomedical research into the basic mechanisms of the aging process and of age-related diseases like cancer, stroke and Alzheimer's disease. Its mission is to extend the healthy, productive years of life through basic research. The Buck Institute has brought together a multi-disciplinary group of researchers, and state-of-the-art technologies and resources, to focus on the complex challenge of discovering why we develop diseases as we age and developing therapeutics to prevent these debilitating conditions. The Buck Institute for Age Research, located 20 miles north of San Francisco, California, is the only institute of its kind in the United States, and one of just three such institutes world-wide. For more information, please visit our Web site at buckinstitute.org. |
