TORONTO, Jan. 31, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Biotagenics Inc., a microbiome-based platform company developing novel therapeutics and diagnostics is the industrial collaborator on a $9.1 million CAD ($7.4 million USD) project led by academic collaborators at University of Ottawa and Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario (CHEO) to study the clinical application of microbiome-based precision medicine in pediatric inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
The project is funded by Genome Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) 2017 Large-Scale Applied Research Project (LSARP).
The research team, led by Alain Stintzi, PhD and David Mack, MD, will use a next-generation multi-omics approach to characterize the changes in the microbiome composition and function in IBD patients. This work will drive the development of a microbiome-based patient stratification system as well as predictive biomarkers for disease severity and therapeutic response, with the goal of bringing personalized medicine to this complex disease. This pioneering research plan includes validating biomarkers for both mucosal healing and therapeutic decision guidelines, identification of microbial and host-derived therapeutic targets, and optimizing novel clinical nutrition therapies for Crohn’s disease. Biotagenics will work closely with the university and hospital teams to validate and commercialize the novel approaches to IBD management that will result from this comprehensive microbiome study.
“There is a clear need for a new approach in the diagnosis and management of IBD. We believe that our research as well as that of our academic collaborators is the next step for the development of a new patient-centric framework based on cutting-edge multi-omic insights on the relationship between the gut microbiome and the patient,” said Tom Cirrito, CEO of Biotagenics.
About Biotagenics
Biotagenics Inc. is a biotechnology company that has developed an industry leading end-to-end microbiome platform that provides sophisticated analysis of the composition and function of the microbiome and its interactions with the human “host”. This enables an understanding of the underlying mechanisms of disease, identification of both microbiome and host-derived therapeutic targets, and discovery of unique combinations of biomarkers for the diagnosis and management of disease. The company has ongoing clinical studies across multiple indications with an initial focus on inflammatory bowel disease. For more information, visit www.biotagenics.com
Contact
Kate Rochlin
Biotagenics Inc.
+1 646 838 4814
Kate.rochlin@biotagenics.com
www.biotagenics.com