Genovis participates in project where EU grants nearly EUR 5 million to fight Alzheimer’s disease

The EU has granted nearly EUR 5 million on research for diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer disease and prion diseases (ex. Creutzfeldt Jakobs diseases). The project, coordinated by Linköping University, is based on the discovery of luminescent conjugated polymers that can easily be visualized and recognized when it binds to amyloid plaques.

The LUPAS project ( Luminescent polymers for in vivo imaging of amyloid signatures) www.lupas-amyloid.eu is funded by the European Commission within the Seventh Framework Programme. The aim is to bring forward novel tools and techniques for diagnosis and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease. The researchers seeks to bridge the gap between diagnosis and treatment of both Alzheimer disease and prion diseases. By developing novel agents and methods for diagnostic imaging of accumulations of misfolded proteins so called, amyloid plaque, it is possible to improve quality of diagnosis as well as facilitate monitoring and understanding of the disease progression. -Genovis nanoparticles can be used as contrast agents in different medical imaging techniques, e.g. MRT and optical measurement. The LUPAS project aim to combine MRT and optical measurement where luminescent conjugated polymers, LCPs, a material normally used for electronic applications, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) will be a key component in different nanostructures. It is very exciting to be part of the LUPAS consortium with leading scientific groups within this field of research, which is very interesting from a commercial perspective, said Sarah Fredriksson, CEO Genovis AB - The competence within the LUPAS consortium will undoubtedly bring forward novel tools for understanding the pathological hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease and prionoses . Within the 3 year time frame of LUPAS we will develop these tools for use in disease models systems in vivo and on histolological ex vivo samples from humans. If successful it will take a few more years to apply this technology in the clinic, Professor Hammarström (the LUPAS coordinator) said. The LUPAS partners are assembled from a wide range of areas ranging from experts within organic synthetic chemistry, synthetic nano chemistry, amyloid structure, prion disease, Alzheimer’s disease, magnetic resonance imaging, multi-photon physics and hyper spectral imaging. The LUPAS partners are apart from Genovis: Linköpings universitet (Sweden), Université Claude Bernard Lyon 1 (France), Universität Tübingen (Germany), Norges teknisk-naturvitenskapelige universitet (Norwayt, UniversitätsSpital Zürich (Switzerland), Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Germany) och Applied Spectral Imaging (Israel).