This project will involve collaboration with 5 key industrial partners - Porvair Sciences, Bruker UK, GE Healthcare UK, Axis Bio and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). 

A new Antibody Drug Conjugates company will join the project in its second year. Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADC’s) are a powerful new class of therapeutics in medical oncology, where antibodies that target specific cancers are coupled with cytotoxic agents. The Cluster for Epigenomic and Antibody Drug Conjugate Therapeutics (CEAT) project aims to utilise novel epigenetic drugs and ADC’s to manipulate chemical compounds thus creating a new route for the treatment of ovarian cancer. 

Utilizing its proprietary Chromatrap® bead-free Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) technology - Porvair Sciences will develop new epigenomic profiling approaches that will deliver the required advances in cutting-edge drug development and patient profiling. Using the Chromatrap® technology, Porvair Sciences will work with Swansea University and industrial partners to identify and characterise epigenetic drugs that are effective in preventing cancer development in ovarian cancer models. In addition, Porvair Sciences will support the evaluation of the Antibody Drug Conjugates (ADCs) resulting from the CEAT project.

CEAT principal investigator - Dr. Lewis Francis from Swansea University’s School of Medicine commented “Epigenetics involves chemical changes to the DNA and associated proteins that can lead to genes being turned on or off. In some cases, this can go wrong and lead to disease. Through the CEAT project, Swansea University will work closely with CEAT partners to develop drugs that can control epigenetic signals; these epigenetic drugs can be targeted specifically towards ovarian cancer cells where epigenetic changes have occurred.”

Amy Johnson, Business and Technical Development Manager at Porvair Sciences commented “We are delighted to be involved with the CEAT project. This is a great opportunity for the project to leverage our bead-free ChIP technology and expertise to be at the forefront of developing epigenetic-based cancer therapies”

Chromatrap® is a brand  of Porvair Sciences Ltd. with R&D and production laboratories based in the UK. Their extensive product range includes ChIP kits, DNA clean up kits and other innovative products for the life science market. Now cited in approaching thirty papers - Chromatrap® ChIP technology is rapidly becoming the method of choice for fast accurate ChIP assays.

*   CEAT has been awarded £1.2 million from the European Regional Development Fund via the Welsh Government’s SMART Expertise programme and the Welsh European Funding Office.

**  Ovarian cancer being one of the deadliest forms of cancer for women -as incidences of the disease, particularly in younger women, continue to rise. Cancer Research UK statistics show ovarian cancer is the sixth most common cancer affecting females in the UK, with around 7,300 new cases in 2015. Advanced ovarian cancer has a five-year survival rate of only 5%.  The incidence of ovarian cancer in younger women will continue to rise with a projected rate increase of 15% in the UK between 2014 and 2035 if no suitable interventions are developed and introduced into the National Health Service.

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