Partnership Focused on Neurodegenerative Disease Pathways

Swedish drug discovery and research company Cellectricon (Molndal), specialising in the areas of chronic pain and neurodegenerative diseases, is collaborating with life sciences reagents supplier StressMarq Biosciences(Victoria BC, Canada) to progress development of in vitro gents for neurodegenerative disease research.

Spreading of neurodegenerative disease associated peptides (NDAPs; e.g. amyloid-beta peptides, tau and alpha-synuclein) within the human brain is one of the earliest pathological processes leading to Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease. Cellectricon aims to decipher the spreading of neuropathologies in neuronal circuits using a proprietary high capacity microfluidics platform.

“As more details become known about NDAPs and their cell-to-cell transmission, it may be possible to design novel pharmacological interventions that block disease progression. Methods for targeting the pathological pathways involved in protein misfolding or spreading of the disease to neighbouring neurons are of great interest," said Sebastian Illes, Director of CNS research at Cellectricon. “A vital factor for enabling in vitro modelling of neuropathological processes is access to well-characterised reagents such as seed competent fibrils and filaments. We are therefore very pleased to announce our collaboration with StressMarq Biosciences as it will enable us to access their high-quality portfolio of reagents for our services” he added.

StressMarq Biosciences has a unique reagent offering including pre-formed fibrils of tau, alpha-synuclein and other proteins for neurodegenerative disease research. Certain fibrils and filaments can initiate protein aggregation, inducing disease pathology in vitro and in vivo. These proteins can be used to study diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, ALS and amyloidosis.

“We look forward to working with Cellectricon to develop novel assays and reagents for neurodegenerative disease research. This is an excellent opportunity for us to showcase our expertise, products and knowledge base to the scientific community” said Ariel Louwrier, President & CEO at StressMarq Biosciences.