Over $325,000 in Label-free Instrumentation Awarded Enabling Ground Breaking Research

WOBURN, Mass.–SRU Biosystems, a leader in label-free technology, publicly announced today the recipients of its Label-free Instrument Research Grants. The company awarded BIND® label-free detection systems to three research groups located at the University of Hamburg-Eppendorf, the University of Cambridge and Purdue University. The recipients were chosen on scientific merit including the level of innovation and the degree to which label-free could significantly advance breakthrough research. The supported research includes identifying new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s, understanding the precise role of collagen-binding integrins in cell migration and defining the first molecular model of the Lowe Syndrome, a lethal developmental disease.

“The BIND Reader offers us the opportunity to investigate protein-collagen interactions in real time as well as cell attachment and spreading. This is a tremendous addition to the capabilities of the group and the Department.”

“These applications represent significant advancements in the use of label-free technology in the cell-based field and will be an important milestone in the adoption of plate-based label-free systems in the academic community, previously dominated by lower throughput SPR systems. The power of BIND’s label-free technology is its tremendous level of freedom and assay flexibility which was highlighted by the huge diversity of scientific applications discussed within the grant proposals,” says Dr. Richard Wagner, CEO at SRU Biosystems. “The quality of the applications was exceptional and made our decision very difficult. However, we believe the winning investigators are conducting novel research in multiple sclerosis, cancer and Lowe Syndrome that would not be possible using other technologies.”

Dr. Gabriele Loers and Dr. Ralf Fliegert, staff scientists and members of the Centre for Molecular Neurobiology Hamburg and the Institute for Biochemie und Molekularbiologie which are parts of the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, will receive a BIND® PROFILER, a 96- and 384-well plate-based reader and associated BIND® Biosensors to discover small molecule agonists for the cell adhesion molecule L1, antagonists of the ion channel TRPM2, while supporting compound profiling and mode of action studies on a range of molecular targets in Multiple Sclerosis. The goal of these studies is to identify new agents with neuroprotective functions which are able to promote neurogenesis or induce remyelination. These agents would represent significant additions not only to the current armory of multiple sclerosis therapeutics, but also impact the treatment of all acute and chronic neurodegenerative diseases, including traumatic nervous system injury, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and Huntington’s diseases.

“SRU’s label-free grant enables us to use this state-of-the-art technique for drug discovery against a range of diverse therapeutic targets,” says Dr. Gabriele Loers, team leader at the UKE Hamburg. “We’re confident the SRU instrumentation will accelerate and simplify the discovery and preclinical development of new neuro-protective and neuro-regenerative drugs.”

Philip Gribbon of the European ScreeningPort who works with the UKE scientists on a range of early stage Drug Discovery projects, added, “Having the SRU label-free platform at the UKE will provide an exciting new tool for addressing what are traditionally difficult to analyze target classes, particularly protein:protein interactions and ion channels. The European ScreeningPort looks forward to working with Gabriele and her team to maximize the impact of this technology on Academic drug discovery in Hamburg.”

Dr. Richard Farndale, Professor of Matrix Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge and Dr. Samir Hamaia will receive a BIND® EXPLORER, a 96-well plate-based reader and associated BIND Biosensors to conduct protein-protein binding studies involving collagen. Collagens provide a means of attachment of many protein and proteoglycan components of the extracellular matrix. The binding studies are designed to shed light on the interaction between synthetic collagen-mimetic peptides synthesized by Professor Farndale’s group and cellular and extracellular tissue components including collagen-binding integrins. The goals are to illuminate the precise details of the integrin activation process, and identify functional sites within the I domain of integrin alpha subunits that may be targeted therapeutically to limit cell migration, e.g. during metastatic cell invasion or tumor angiogenesis, or platelet aggregation (arterial thrombosis).

“I am delighted that my lab has been awarded the label-free grant from SRU Biosystems,” says Dr. Farndale. “The BIND Reader offers us the opportunity to investigate protein-collagen interactions in real time as well as cell attachment and spreading. This is a tremendous addition to the capabilities of the group and the Department.”

Dr. Ruben Claudio Aguilar, assistant professor at the Purdue Cancer Center, Purdue University, will receive a BIND® Cartridge Reader and associated BIND Biosensor Cartridges to work towards developing the first molecular model of Lowe Syndrome, a lethal developmental disease characterized by the presence of congenital cataracts, mental retardation and renal dysfunction. Although the gene mutations responsible for the syndrome have been identified, little is known about what cellular processes are affected and how they cause the typical manifestations of this disorder. This milestone project aims to produce the first complete description of the spreading and migration abnormalities described in Lowe Syndrome as well as test several hypotheses about the molecular causes of the disease.

“The use of label-free technology will significantly accelerate our research as it will replace older, more limited methodologies and expensive alternatives. BIND technology will allow us to obtain quantitative results on protein-protein interactions as opposed to typical biochemical approaches that render all-or-none results and have very poor sensitivity,” says Dr. Aguilar. “Moreover, this technology will also support our cell-based investigations by providing a dynamic and quantitative substitute to the slow and tedious standard approaches. We are confident that determining the specific cellular processes affected in patients will allow us to develop the basis for therapeutic approaches.”

About SRU Biosystems

SRU Biosystems, Inc., is a life science company offering novel, label-free tools used to answer important biological questions in biomedical research and pharmaceutical drug discovery. SRU’s label-free BIND® Technology can rapidly analyze the interactions of genomic, peptide, antibody or small molecule compound libraries against a wide range of cellular and biochemical targets. www.srubiosystems.com