|
||
| |||||||
CellCentric receives new funding and links up with the Babraham Institute Cambridge, UK. 7 April 2005…CellCentric, a leading company in the exploitation of epigenetics, announces that it has received new funding of £250,000 from the Rainbow Seed Fund, complementing initial investments from Avlar BioVentures and Providence Investment Co. Ltd. This investment has enabled a new commercial relationship with the Babraham Institute, Cambridge, one of Europe’s leading centres of excellence in epigenetic research. Under the terms agreed, CellCentric has exclusive rights over epigenetic-related intellectual property generated at the Institute. The new relationship brings together CellCentric’s world leading scientific founder Prof Azim Surani and his laboratory at the University of Cambridge, with one of the world’s largest centres of epigenetics research. Epigenetics is the study of the control mechanisms that sit on top of genes and guide the function and fate of individual cells. The field is expected to radically change traditional approaches to many healthcare areas, including cancer therapeutics and tissue regeneration. CellCentric will use its discovery platform to develop a variety of proprietary products for cancer based on proteins and small molecules. In addition, CellCentric will fund specific research in the laboratory of Dr Wolf Reik at the Babraham Institute to generate research reagents for biomanufacturing and disease modelling. Will West, CellCentric COO, said “Understanding epigenetics is expected to have a major impact on generating truly innovative products for human healthcare. It is an area that is attracting significant scientific and commercial interest. Our new relationship with the Babraham Institute will further our drug development goals, as well as allowing directed research to develop near-term, revenue generating reagents.” Andrew Muir, Investment Manager at Rainbow Seed Fund, commented: “We are delighted to support the development of CellCentric’s patent portfolio and product pipeline via the collaboration with the Babraham Institute, which should enable us to play a part in the commercialisation of the UK’s world leading research in this field”. Wolf Reik said “The new research we are undertaking with CellCentric is closely aligned with our own goals – understanding how molecular modifications are made to DNA to alter gene expression during the cell’s development and differentiation. I am delighted that CellCentric recognises the commercial potential of epigenetics research, which is experiencing such explosive growth worldwide, and look forward to an exciting collaboration.” - end - NOTES TO EDITORS About CellCentric Ltd. www.cellcentric.co.uk CellCentric Ltd. is establishing itself as one of the leaders in the commercial exploitation of epigenetics and mechanisms that determine cell fate. The company was founded in May 2004 with initial funding from Avlar BioVentures and Providence Investment Trust. The company is based upon the world leading research of Prof Azim Surani FRS at the Gurdon Institute, University of Cambridge. His work is complemented by that at the Babraham Institute, one of the UK’s leaders in epigenetic research. About The Babraham Institute www.babraham.ac.uk The Babraham Institute is a charitable organisation, sponsored by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council. The Institute’s research focuses on the mechanisms of cell signalling and gene regulation which underlie normal cellular processes and functions, and on how their failure or abnormality may lead to disease. Institute scientists are striving to find cures for conditions where there is currently no treatment or where the existing treatment is not fully effective or causes serious side effects. The commercialisation of the Institute’s research is managed by its trading subsidiary – Babraham Bioscience Technologies Ltd. The Babraham Research Campus is located six miles south-east of Cambridge About the Rainbow Seed Fund www.rainbowseedfund.com The Rainbow Seed Fund provides seed capital to help commercialise the outcomes of scientific research at the world class publicly funded research institutes of BBSRC (the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council), CCLRC (Council for the Central Laboratory of the Research Councils), Dstl (Defence Science and Technology Laboratory), NERC (Natural Environment Research Council), PPARC (Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council) and the UKAEA Fusion Division. The fund’s £6 million of capital was provided by the UK Government’s Office of Science & Technology, to identify and support the very early stages of business formation. The fund is managed by Midven, a Birmingham-based venture capital company specialising in equity-gap investments. About Avlar BioVentures www.avlar.com Avlar invests in seed and early stage opportunities in biotechnology and healthcare. The company was founded in 1999 and manages £65m of funds. It has made investments in 19 companies, of which six have been subsequently sold, and one has carried out a successful IPO. Epigenetics Epigenetics is the study of the functional groups that sit on top of genes and their associated proteins. The pattern, or imprint, of these functional groups is responsible for a cell’s specific function and fate. It determines which genes are made accessible to the cell’s machinery for reading and translation into proteins. For further information:
CellCentric
Ltd
Northbank
Communications
The
Babraham Institute
|
|
| ||||||||