London, 19 October 2022 – Promatix, a London-based oncology drug discovery and development company that uses multi-omics to identify novel therapeutics, today announced a collaboration with the laboratory of Professor Jasmin Fisher to develop new proprietary computational executable cancer models for Promatix’s CipherPro suite of algorithms to mine the TxPro databank and identify new oncology drug targets.
TxPro is the most comprehensive membrane protein tissue databank for identifying oncology drug targets in the world and has thousands of primary tissue samples from healthy and diseased states. The databank is continually evolving and growing through select data acquisitions. CipherPro is a proprietary suite of algorithms to mine TxPro and other databanks to support oncology drug discovery and development.
Using predictive modelling, computational executable cancer models can simulate cancer biology in silico to discover new therapeutic targets, validate existing drug targets, and suggest new drug combinations.
The agreement via UCL Consultants means Promatix’s Principal Computational Scientist, Dr Daniel Holdbrook, will work with the Fisher Lab to develop new computational executable cancer models.
“The Jasmin Fisher Lab is globally recognised for state-of-the-art computational models and analysis techniques, and we are excited to now be working with them on computational executable cancer models for our drug discovery and development engine,” said Promatix CEO Dr Robert Balfour.
“This is an exceptional opportunity to tap the techniques pioneered by Jasmin Fisher, PhD, FRSB, Professor of Computational Biology at UCL, to model specific cancer indications.”
“Professor Fisher, who is on the Promatix advisory board, is internationally renowned for her vision and ground-breaking achievements in this space.”
“By combining these models with TxPro, our proteomic databank and existing CipherPro algorithms, we are creating a world-leading platform to build a pipeline of therapeutics with the potential to transform the way we treat cancer.”
Quote from Prof Fisher:
We are pleased to work with the Promatix team to accelerate identification of new oncology therapeutic targets and suggest new drug combination treatments.
Programmable analysis and data modelling can identify drug targets in seconds, saving considerable time, money and resources, and most importantly, time to the clinic.
We have developed an innovative approach called Executable Biology, a toolset to model and analyse biological mechanisms as if they were computer programs.
This is the future of drug discovery.
Our goal at the Fisher Lab is to determine the mechanisms by which oncogenic signalling pathways regulate the onset, progression and when blocked, regression of cancers.
We do this by computational modelling of oncogenic signalling networks and how they are linked to cell fate decisions (such as proliferation and cell death). In this way, we can understand how cellular decisions are made and how aberrations in those decisions drive cancer pathology.
About Promatix:
Promatix was founded to develop transformational therapies for cancer patients. It takes a data-driven approach utilising a confluence of multi-omic datasets and proprietary algorithms. Its proprietary databank, TxPro, comprises a wealth of proteomic data, which is combined with genomic and transcriptomic data, and the CipherPro suite of Algorithms to validate known targets and uncover novel targets and combinations, paving the way for transformative new medicines in cancer treatment.
For further information, please visit www.pro-matix.com.
About the Jasmin Fisher Lab
The Fisher lab develops state-of-the-art computational models and analysis techniques to study cancer evolution and mechanisms of drug resistance to identify better-personalised treatments for cancer patients.
The lab’s research is focused on understanding how cancers evolve by identifying molecular mechanisms that underpin cell-fate decision programs during normal development and disease.
For further information, please visit https://www.ucl.ac.uk/cancer/research/department-pathology/computational-cancer-biology.
About UCL Consultants:
UCL Consultants (UCLC) is one of the UK’s leading providers of academic consultancy services. Established by University College London (UCL) as a wholly owned subsidiary to administer the arrangements for consultancy and tendered services undertaken by UCL staff, it connects clients with our academic experts to solve problems, create new opportunities and develop capabilities to better understand complex issues
About ALSA Ventures
ALSA Ventures is a London-based early-stage investor in life sciences. Focused on therapeutics, the team brings a mix of operational expertise in pharmaceutical R&D and a background in company building and working with exceptional entrepreneurs to make today’s potential tomorrow’s reality.
For further information, please visit https://www.alsaventures.com/.
