CM Life Sciences II and SomaLogic have collaborated with Twist Bioscience to discover novel therapeutic targets and antibodies.
The partnership aims to develop antibodies and discover drugs based on key disease biomarkers.
As part of the collaboration, Twist will identify antibodies against targets resulting from SomaLogic’s 7,000-plex assay using SomaScan platform.
The platform was designed to be applied across clinical applications, research and discovery, and translational research and biopharmaceutical development.
It uses slow off-rate modified aptamers, called SOMAmer reagents, to measure nearly 7,000 proteins from a single plasma, serum, or urine sample.
Twist Bioscience CEO and co-founder Emily Leproust said: “Having access to the SomaScan Platform provides a rich source of clinically relevant biomarkers in diverse therapeutic areas, where we can then take those targets and discover potent antibodies for the treatment of disease.
“We intend to use the antibodies discovered for our internal pipeline, moving the most promising candidates through preclinical development and then potentially outlicensing to a partner.”
The company manufactures a wide range of synthetic DNA-based products such as tools for next-generation sequencing sample preparation, synthetic genes, and antibody libraries for drug discovery and development.
SomaLogic stated that the partnership with Twist Bioscience provides an opportunity to explore targets across a wide range of therapeutic areas.
SomaLogic CEO Roy Smythe said: “This collaboration is a strong example of the powerful connections that can be made leveraging synthetic biology approaches in both genomics and proteomics.
“The vast majority of drugs act on proteins, and this work with target identification and validation is directed at facilitating breakthrough discoveries with significant potential impact in biology and medicine.”