Metabolon Partners with the University of Oxford Parkinson's Disease Centre

Metabolon and the Oxford Parkinson's Disease Centre will identify new metabolomic biomarkers to advance Parkinson's research and detect new therapeutic targets 

MORRISVILLE, N.C., Aug. 23, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Metabolon, Inc., the global leader in providing metabolomics solutions that advance a wide variety of research, diagnostic, therapeutic development, and precision medicine applications, today announced it is partnering with the University of Oxford Parkinson's Disease Centre to identify metabolomic biomarkers related to Parkinson's disease progression and prediction and to detect new therapeutic targets.

The Oxford Parkinson's Disease Centre (OPDC) is a unique multidisciplinary research program at the University of Oxford. Founded in 2010, OPDC Discovery, also known as the Oxford Discovery Cohort, is a leading Parkinson's biomarker cohort and among the most deeply phenotyped and genotyped Parkinson's cohorts in the world. This unique cohort also includes a population of patients diagnosed with REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) that are at risk of developing Parkinson's.

Through this collaboration, Metabolon will perform global metabolomics on longitudinal serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) samples collected by OPDC. This will enable Metabolon and Oxford to gain insights into the metabolomic changes occurring during Parkinson's disease progression over many years in this deeply phenotyped cohort. The metabolomic data will be incorporated with clinical and genetic data to provide a holistic view of Parkinson's over the course of the disease.

"We are thrilled to partner with the Oxford Parkinson's Disease Centre to support their mission to improve research and understanding of the biology of early Parkinson's," said Rohan Hastie, Ph.D., President and CEO of Metabolon. "Metabolon's highly accurate data will enable the identification of metabolomic biomarkers crucial to understanding and better predicting Parkinson's disease progression to help improve patient care and the proactive management of symptoms."

"I am excited to be collaborating with Metabolon, who are global leaders in their field and ISO 9001:2015 recertified, reflecting their highest standards of testing and quality assurance. Understanding the unique, real-time fingerprint of an individual's biological system alongside individual clinical and digital measures captured longitudinally across the Oxford Discovery cohort is a powerful combination. I am optimistic this will lead to tailored treatments to reverse deranged metabolic pathways in Parkinson's, as well as biomarkers that capture each individual's response to these therapies," said Professor Michele Hu, University of Oxford.

Metabolon, Inc. is the global leader in metabolomics, with a mission to deliver biochemical data and insights that expand and accelerate the impact of life sciences research. Over 20 years, 10,000+ projects, 2,800+ publications, and ISO 9001:2015 and CLIA certifications, Metabolon has developed industry-leading scientific, technology, and bioinformatics techniques. Metabolon's Precision Metabolomics™ platform is enabled by the world's largest proprietary metabolomics reference library. Metabolon's industry-leading data and translational science expertise help customers and partners address some of the most challenging and pressing questions in the life sciences, accelerating research and enhancing development success. The company offers scalable, customizable metabolomics and lipidomics solutions supporting customer needs from discovery through clinical trials and product life-cycle management. For more information, please visit www.metabolon.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

Metabolomics, the large-scale study of all small molecules in a biological system, is the only 'omics technology that provides a complete current-state functional readout of a biological system. Metabolomics helps researchers see beyond the genetic variation of individuals, capturing the combined impact of genetic as well as external factors such as the effect of drugs, diet, lifestyle, and the microbiome on human health. By measuring thousands of discrete chemical signals that form biological pathways in the body, metabolomics can reveal important biomarkers enabling a better understanding of a drug's mechanism of action, pharmacodynamics, and safety profile, as well as individual responses to therapy.

SOURCE Metabolon, Inc.