Gothenburg, Sweden, 25.08.2009. Denator AB announced today that the consortium focused on improved sample preparation of blood plasma samples has been ranked 31st out of more than 300 European projects and will receive approximately 300 000 Euros in funding from the EU Eurostars Programme.

Denator will participate as lead partner in the new research consortium that will focus on development and verification of a prototype for rapid and reliable blood plasma handling. The project will have a special focus on increasing the potential of biomarker discovery for diagnostics and drug development.

Other partners of the consortium are Sigolis AB in Sweden; the Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry Unit at Leiden University Medical Center, headed by Professor Andre Deelder, the Netherlands and the BioScope group, at Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Portugal. The consortium also includes the involvement of a large pharmaceutical company that will support the project with key customer understanding.

Yuri van der Burgt, Assistant Professor at Leiden University Medical Center, says: “Improved and standardized sample handling is a key issue for the discovery of novel peptide- and protein biomarkers. This project holds the potential of immensely facilitating that process”.

This year, competition between applying projects has been extremely fierce. All projects have been assessed by carefully selected independent technical experts and independent evaluation panel. Based on that assessment, technology and innovation, market and competitiveness factors, projects were then ranked across all industries.

Olof Sköd, CEO of Denator, says: “This collaboration project will allow us to continue developing exciting new techniques for stabilization of biological samples which will provide unique insights and a deeper understanding of the human proteome and its role in disease. Our involvement in the consortium enables us to work even more closely with existing as well as new collaborative partners. We are confident that working within such a strong team of innovative actors presents the perfect opportunity for developing breakthrough technology.”

About Denator

Denator intends to become the leading supplier of products that stabilize biological tissues and fluids from the moment of sampling. Stabilization and standardization of sampling processes upstream significantly enhances the quality of data obtained from analytical techniques used downstream. In proteomic and peptidomic investigations, enhanced data quality increases the reliability of data interpretation and can reveal novel proteins and peptides that would be lost or undetectable when using conventional preparation techniques. Based upon the company’s proprietary heat-inactivation technology platform, Denator is developing solutions that enable scientists to stop sample degradation instantly and maintain the stability of sample components throughout the analytical workflow. Established in 2004, Denator is headquartered at the Biotech Center in Gothenburg, Sweden. For more information visit: www.denator.com