Cleveland, UK, 31th August 2017 / Sciad Newswire / Cambridge Research Biochemicals® (CRB), offering over 37 years of expertise in the custom supply of research reagents, namely peptides and antibodies for life science research and development, today signed a licence agreement with Edinburgh Innovations, the Innovation Management Service for The University of Edinburgh.
Under this new agreement, CRB will be permitted to label both custom made and catalogue peptides with novel dyes developed by a research team from The University of Edinburgh, School of Clinical Sciences, led by the Principal Investigator Dr Marc Vendrell. Dr Vendrell worked in collaboration with academic partners at the University of Barcelona and IRB Barcelona (led by Professor Rodolfo Lavilla) and The University of Manchester (Professor Nick Read) to co-invent the technology.
These dynamic activatable fluorophores have been specially developed to enable fluorogenic labelling of peptides for enhanced live-cell imaging. They offer numerous advantages from both a synthesis perspective and for the end-user scientist. The former is due to the dye being pre-conjugated to an amino acid, tryptophan, facilitating direct inclusion into the peptide sequence rather than post purification labelling, minimising the number of reaction steps and therefore the time taken to prepare the labelled product. The latter is due to the high signal-to-noise ratios with increased sensitivity, which enables use of the material in small concentrations, reducing potential adverse effects and facilitating clinical translation.
This agreement is significant to CRB, which has supplied The University of Edinburgh for many years as a specialist CRO, but now looks forward to a more collaborative approach. The agreement will enable CRB to expand its current dye portfolio, offering a greater selection of products and increased flexibility on the labelling strategy to its customers. It will also permit expansion of the DISCOVERY Peptides® catalogue, officially launched earlier this year, with the inclusion of a new range of pre-labelled antimicrobial peptides.
CRB’s Commercial Director Emily Humphrys said: “This is an important agreement for CRB, as it enables us to expand our product offering both for the custom side of our business and also for the new DISCOVERY Peptides® catalogue. Our customers really value our technical expertise and also our flexibility and inclination to explore the chemistry methodologies available in order to fulfil their requirements, and this new labelling strategy offers substantial scope to our dye and labelling portfolio.”
Dr Angus Stewart-Liddon, EI’s Licensing Manager, added: “We’re delighted to be partnering with Cambridge Research Biochemicals (CRB) on the commercialisation of this fluorescent probe technology. The significant experience CRB brings to the table in terms of peptide synthesis and supplying the research market, in particular with labelling-technologies, ideally complements the highly innovative science being undertaken by the Vendrell Group.”
Ends
For further information, contact:
Cambridge Research Biochemicals®:
Emily Humphrys
T: +44 (0)1642 567182
E: emily.humphrys@crbdiscovery.com
Edinburgh Innovations Ltd / The University of Edinburgh:
Natalia Bonner
T: +44 (0)131 651 3432
M: +44 (0)7970169394
E: natalia.bonner@ei.ed.ac.uk
Notes to Editors
Cambridge Research Biochemicals®
Cambridge Research Biochemicals® (www.crbdiscovery.com) is a leading independent producer of custom-made peptide and antibody tools, supplying researchers in the pharmaceutical, life science and academic sectors worldwide. The primary applications of its products are as custom-made, laboratory scale reagents for proof of principal studies within early phase drug discovery and to support biomarker programmes in clinical studies. The company produces all flavours of peptides from simple to modified, stable and radio-labelled to dye labelled from milligrams to gram-scale to the highest levels of purity. CRB also distributes supporting products such as PNA and Europium chelate.
DISCOVERY Antibodies®, DISCOVERY Peptides®, Cambridge Research Biochemicals® are registered trademarks of Cambridge Research Biochemicals Limited.
CRB Website: www.crbdiscovery.com
Discovery Peptides Website: www.Discoverypeptides.com
Edinburgh Innovations
We are Edinburgh Innovations, the Innovation Management Service for The University of Edinburgh. With partners, we will explore opportunities, build ideas and deliver results for industry and The University of Edinburgh. We do this by promoting the research, technology and facilities at the University and use our expertise to manage and develop industry partnerships.
We are committed to delivering a service that drives benefit for industry and society in line with the strategic goals and ambitions of The University of Edinburgh.
Website: www.edinburgh-innovations.ed.ac.uk
Twitter: @EdinInnovations
LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/edinburgh-innovations
[1] Global University Venturing TTO Rankings 2014
Bosch i Gimpera Foundation
The Bosch i Gimpera (BG) is the centre of knowledge, technology and innovation transfer of the University of Barcelona. It promotes the research activity carried out by UB and UB Group, and it facilitates the transfer of knowledge and the results of this research to society by creating new knowledge‐based companies, licensing patents, or by means of the signature of contracts with firms and institutions to develop R+D projects, or the development of consultancy and analysis activities. FBG is supported by ACCIÓ, the agency of the Government of Catalonia that fosters Catalan companies’ competitiveness.
Website: www.fbg.ub.edu
The University of Manchester
The University of Manchester Intellectual Property is The University of Manchester’s agent for intellectual property commercialisation and is a division of The University of Manchester Iᶟ Ltd (www.umi3.com) – The University’s Innovation Company. UMI3 is wholly owned by The University of Manchester which has over a 25 year history of IP commercialisation. UMIP’s role is to bring as much of the University’s ground‐breaking inventions and software, as is relevant, into the commercial world. This we do principally by attracting entrepreneurs, investors and corporate venture partners to our campus and Innovation Centre (www.umic.co.uk) and then, through engagement with our academic colleagues, licensing or spinning out companies.
Website: www.umip.com
About IRB Barcelona
Created in 2005 by the Generalitat de Catalunya (Government of Catalonia) and University of Barcelona, IRB Barcelona is a Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence, a seal that was awarded in 2011. The institute is devoted to conducting research of excellence in biomedicine and to transferring results to clinical practice, thus improving people’s quality of life, while simultaneously promoting the training of outstanding researchers, technology transfer, and public communication of science. Its 25 laboratories and seven core facilities address basic questions in biology and are orientated to diseases such as cancer, metastasis, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, and rare conditions. IRB Barcelona is an international centre that hosts 400 employees and 32 nationalities. It is located in the Barcelona Science Park. IRB Barcelona forms part of the Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology (BIST) and the “Xarxa de Centres de Recerca de Catalunya” (CERCA).
Website: www.irbbarcelona.org
Twitter: @IRBBarcelona
Facebook: www.facebook.com/irbbarcelona
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company-beta/1082390/