BioGenes Designated as New Partner in EU Funded Dementia Project

BioGenes as new designated partner in EU funded dementia project

Berlin, Germany, February 2, 2008 / b3c newswire /-BioGenes GmbH, a specialist in sophisticated antibody development, has been chosen as a new partner of cNEUPRO. cNEUPRO is a EU funded research project to analyse neurodegenerative diseases and discover novel biomarkers, and so improve early and differential diagnosis of Alzheimer’s dementia.

BioGenes will provide laboratory facilities and key personnel to develop specific monoclonal antibodies against novel neurochemical dementia biomarkers in blood and cerebrospinal fluid that have been identified during the project. These monoclonal antibodies may not only be used for diagnostics, but also have potential as therapeutic agents since they may access the CNS space.

Reliable differential clinical diagnosis of very early dementia stages is crucial for choosing the most effective therapeutic strategy. Recent research has demonstrated that multiparametric neurochemical dementia diagnostics (NDD) in cerebrospinal fluid does improve early and differential diagnosis of dementias.

cNEUPRO will establish European standard operation procedures (SOPs) for NDD and first NDD reference centres in Portugal and Hungary. cNEUPRO unites the forces of nineteen biotech and bioinformatic companies as well as leading clinical and proteomic dementia research centres.

Link to the news release
http://www.b3cnewswire.com/popup.php?id=116

Alzheimer's dementia is one of the most common brain diseases in the elderly, with about 5.7 million dementia patients in the EU25. Currently, no curative therapies are available. Although initial disease-modifying treatment strategies such as Abeta-immunisation have entered clinical trials, these novel treatments can only be most effective when offered at a very early stage of disease.

BioGenes GmbH specialises in highly sophisticated antibody and immunoassay development and has successfully developed monoclonal antibodies against all kinds of antigens: peptides, soluble proteins, membrane proteins, phosphorylated antigens, small organic molecules such as haptens, oligo- and polysaccharides, as well as highly toxic substances. An optimized mouse hybridoma technology allows BioGenes to produce monoclonal antibodies with antigen mixtures or small antigen amounts. BioGenes is certified to meet the international requirements and regulations of assured quality and animal welfare.