Ezose Sciences Inc. has received a grant from The Michael J Fox Foundation (MJFF) for Parkinson’s research to apply its GlycanMap technology to investigating the role of the sugars known as glycans in Parkinson’s disease.

Ezose’s GlycanMap technology enables automated analysis of glycans, which attach to proteins in the body and affect their biochemical function. The speed, scope, and quantitative power of this technology hold the potential for discovering novel glycan changes associated with altered protein function during the onset and progression of wide-ranging diseases, including Parkinson’s disease and other neurological disorders. Glycans could serve as novel biomarkers for guiding clinical management and drug development and provide insight into disease mechanism and novel drug targets.

The research funded by the foundation will be performed in Ezose’s laboratories, where the GlycanMap assay will be used to compare glycan profiles in brain-stem tissue from rat models of Parkinson’s disease and control rats over time and with respect to development of symptoms.

“The Michael J Fox Foundation has brought a tireless sense of urgency to advancing research into Parkinson’s disease,” said Ryuichi Kiyama, Ph.D., chairman and chief executive officer of Ezose. “We look forward to bringing that spirit as well as our technical capabilities to this novel research project.”

Mark Frasier, vice president of research programmes at The Michael J Fox Foundation, commented: “Two important steps toward the development of a disease-modifying therapy for Parkinson’s are greater understanding of the underlying pathology of the disease and validation of a reliable biomarker. Ezose’s glycan analysis offers a new approach to serve those goals and bring us closer to a Parkinson’s cure.”

Glycomics is the study of glycans, the sugar chains that during the biochemical process known as glycosylation become attached to many proteins expressed by human cells. The particular glycans involved may crucially determine the function of the resulting glycoprotein and its role in health and disease. Glycomics is a natural complement to genomics and proteomics, but it has traditionally been hindered by the lack of practical high-throughput and quantitative technologies. Ezose’s proprietary GlycanMap platform addresses this need by combining, in an automated 96-well format, high-throughput glycan enrichment with specialized MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry and custom bioinformatics to both structurally identify and quantitate glycans present in complex biological samples. Such glycans can serve as novel biomarkers to aid in the development of drugs, vaccines, and diagnostic tests, including companion diagnostics. In addition, glycomics holds potential for uncovering new therapeutic targets and mechanisms and for guiding the development and manufacture of glycosylated biologics and biosimilars.

Ezose (pronounced a-zose) Sciences Inc. is dedicated to advancing glycomics to improve scientific understanding and healthcare.