MediSapiens has joined a study that compared human genomes to those of dogs, which could lead to revolutionary disease treatments.
Established by professor Hannes Lohi at the University of Helsinki and professors Juha Kere and Carsten Daub at Karolinska Institute, the project aims to update the dog genome map and use this important information to model various diseases in humans.
"Following the advances of the Functional Annotation of Mammalian genome project (FANTOM), in which our colleagues at Karolinska Institute have been involved, our project will make a substantial contribution in updating the dog genetic map," said project leader Hannes Lohi.
"This will help to identify disease-associated genetic alterations and enable their efficient comparison with the human genome. The project also builds on substantial previous research and a large dog biobank, and supports other ongoing initiatives, such as the international 10,000 Dog Genomes Project.
"We are excited about the important advances this project will make. We’re dedicated to participate in scientific initiatives which have the potential to make significant improvements in our understanding of health and disease, and eventually contribute to improvements in human healthcare. This project has the potential to make a vast impact," says Henrik Edgren, CSO of MediSapiens.
"We’re delighted to strengthen our long-term partnerships with both academic and industrial partners."
MediSapiens will contribute in providing Bio-IT and bioinformatics expertise and software to help the consortium analyze and interpret dog genomic data, and in the functional annotation of known and newly discovered genes.
Additional research partners, Genoscoper Oy and Mars Veterinary™, will also provide their support and expertise to the project. The four-year project has received a €1.5m grant from the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation, as well as additional support from the research partners.