Biocius and BlueSky said that the collaboration builds on an existing partnership and will improve drug discovery efficiency of the SIRT class of epigenetic modulating enzymes, which are being investigated as promising therapeutics for several indications.
The collaboration intends to launch a selectivity panel of sirtuins and histone deacetylases (HDACs). The activity of the first release, SIRT1, has been linked to the regulation of multiple cellular processes including insulin signaling, apoptosis, and cancer, making SIRT1 an important therapeutic target for a variety of conditions.
Biocius and BlueSky plan to release additional validated enzymes over the course of the coming months.
Paul Wengender, CEO of Blue Sky Biotech, said: “Our latest endeavor with BIOCIUS provides researchers with a pre-validated assay solution that saves time and money, and further demonstrates the synergy of our high quality proteins combined with BIOCIUS’s value-added screening solutions.”
William LaMarr, VP of research and contract services at Biocius, said: “validation using a label-free, functional assay is especially important for sirtuins given the controversy surrounding fluorescent based assays recently seen in the scientific literature.”