Harvard Stem Cell Institute (HSCI) Co-director Douglas Melton, PhD, and Evotec AG have entered into their second research collaboration to find biological pathways and signals that could be therapeutically relevant to diabetic patients.
The objective of this new collaboration, dubbed “TargetEEM” (Target Enteroendocrine Mechanisms), is to screen disease-relevant animal models for novel pathways and targets that have the potential to repair mechanisms involved in insulin resistance and abnormal energy handling.
Evotec’s first partnership with the Melton laboratory, the CureBeta initiative in 2011, was focused on triggering the regeneration of insulin-producing beta cells. Last spring, Melton, the Xander University Professor in the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University and a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator, published his discovery of a hormone in humans, called betatrophin, which regulates the replication of beta cells.
The announcement also comes just one month after the HSCI and Evotec joined efforts to identify compounds that prevent or slow down the loss of motor neurons, caused by conditions like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.
Chief Scientific Officer of Evotec Cord Dohrmann, PhD, commented: “Metabolic diseases and in particular diabetes continue to be on the rise and are not only a serious threat to patients but represent enormous challenges to healthcare systems all over the world. We are very excited about this second collaboration with Doug’s lab. It is designed to break new ground and identify novel enteroendocrine mechanisms with disease-modifying potential.”
“This collaboration between Harvard and Evotec, the second in the field of metabolic disease, benefits from our good working relationship and mutual interest in undertaking a comprehensive effort to elucidate the disease mechanisms that underlie this serious health problem”, added Vivian Berlin, PhD, Director of Business Development in Harvard's Office of Technology Development.