Oxagen announces
Oxford-based biotechnology company Oxagen and the University of Warwick have been jointly awarded a £1.96m (€2.87m) grant under the LINK Applied Genomics Programme. The three-year grant, which is co-funded by the Department of Trade and Industry, the Medical Research Council and the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, will support an ambitious genome-wide initiative to chart functional variation in the genes for G-protein coupled receptors (GPCRs).
The collaborative programme combines Oxagen's expertise in large-scale genetic analysis with yeast-based systems developed at Warwick for the high-throughput analysis of GPCR function. The yeast technology is licensed from Septegen, a University of Warwick spin-out company. The grant is the largest made by the management committee for the LINK Programme in Applied Genomics since it was established in July 2000.
It is estimated that 60% of marketed drugs act through GPCRs, making them one of the most important classes of targets for drug discovery. The Warwick project will contribute to Oxagen's target validation programme, which involves genotyping polymorphisms from candidate genes across the company's clinical collections to identify those GPCRs that are involved in disease. Of particular interest are the numerous GPCRs that are classed as 'orphan receptors', as their natural ligand and function is unknown.
Dr Mark Payton, ceo of Oxagen, said: 'We are delighted to receive this grant, which will enable us to achieve a comprehensive understanding of the impact of genetic variation in this important family of drug targets on common diseases such as type 2 diabetes, autoimmunity and osteoporosis.'
The LINK scheme
The LINK scheme is the UK Government's principal mechanism for promoting partnership in pre-competitive research between industry and the research base. It focuses on areas of strategic importance for the future of the national economy. The main goal of the LINK programme in Applied Genomics is to support the development of platform technologies that will enable UK healthcare companies to harness and exploit the output of genome sequencing projects and developments in genomics. It will assist the UK biotechnology industry to maintain its European lead in biotechnology and compete in the global market place.