Ingenium Pharmaceuticals AG and the Institute for Animal Developmental and Molecular Biology of the Heinrich-Heine-University Dusseldorf announced a collaboration in which Ingenium will develop animal models with defined gene alterations. The focus of the collaboration will be genes relating to limb development and neurogenesis. No financial terms were disclosed.
"Ingenium is pleased to collaborate with Professor Ruther, an expert in developmental and molecular biology research, using our INGENOtyping platform," stated Michael Nehls, Chief Executive and Chief Scientific Officer of Ingenium. "Ingenium looks forward to working with academic institutions as well as commercial organizations to provide high-quality mouse models for biomedical research. Ingenium is honored to provide this resource, which develops mouse models rapidly and with less process risk, to academic institutions."
"Ingenium offers an excellent approach which can complement our own activities," commented Professor Ulrich Ruther, Head of the Institute for Animal Development and Molecular Biology at the Dusseldorf University.
Ingenium's INGENOtyping technology is a high-speed second-generation tool for the in vivo validation of drug targets. INGENOtyping can provide in less than four months a series of mammalian models that carry unique genetic alterations in any target gene of interest. These models include knockouts as well as more subtle functional alterations, such as increased and reduced gene target activity. The INGENOtyping technology is based on a genetically subtle chemical process that generates point mutations in genes and Ingenium's expertise in quickly and reliably producing and analyzing mammalian models of disease.
The basis of Ingenium's business is its knowledge and expertise in generating the biological information critical to the discovery, validation and development of therapeutics. Ingenium's biology-based target discovery technology, Deductive Genomics, involves a functional genomics analysis of an entire mammalian genome to locate novel therapeutic entry points to treat disease. From the breadth of knowledge generated by Deductive Genomics, Ingenium is currently advancing a pipeline of novel models and biologically validated drug targets in the areas of obesity, lipid metabolism, neurodegeneration and autoimmune disease. Ingenium has research partnership agreements with F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Sequenom Inc and Lynkeus BioTech GmbH, in addition to numerous international academic collaborations. The company benefits from funding from premier investors, an experienced management team, top industry advisors and a growing patent portfolio.