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GeneGo licenses MetaCore to Proteostasis Therapeutics

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Published In

Volume 5 - Issue 10 | October 2009

October 2009

ST. JOSEPH, Mich.—GeneGo Inc. announced in September thatProteostasis Therapeutics has licensed its data mining and analysis platform,MetaCore. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Proteostasis Therapeutics is the first company dedicated tothe discovery of novel small-molecule therapeutics based upon understanding thebody's proteostasis network. The proteostasis network maintains the body'snatural balance of proteins to protect us from numerous diseases.

According to Dr. Hui Ge, head of systems biology atProteostasis Therapeutics, GeneGo's MetaCore provides a wealth of informationcurated from biomedical literature about how genes interaction with oneanother, as well as when and where genes are expressed.

"Such information helps us with our efforts to characterizethe proteostasis network, the network of interacting biological pathways thatmaintains the natural balance of proteome homeostasis," Ge says. "Perturbationsin the proteostasis network result in a broad array of diseases, such asHuntington's disease, Alzheimer's disease and type 2 diabetes."

GeneGo's MetaCore is developing pathway reconstruction mapsfor a number of disease categories, including neurodegenerative disorders.Disease-specific pathway maps and models can be used as analytical tools tohelp advance our understanding of the diseases, their mechanisms and processesto help find cures faster.

"We are very pleased to add Proteostasis as a new customeras we work towards delivering our unique disease specific platforms," saysJulie Bryant, GeneGo's vice president of business development. "Understandingand capturing disease pathways is one of our top development priorities, and weare glad to see it appreciated by drug discovery companies."

"Proteostasis Therapeutics is building a proprietaryplatform to rapidly translate the emerging knowledge of how the proteostasisnetwork functions to discover novel small molecules, and GeneGo's MetaCoreintegrated software suite is a valuable tool in these efforts," Ge adds. "Weare pleased with GeneGo's comprehensive curated database of protein interactions,which enables us to rapidly use this information in our proteostasis networkcharacterization efforts."

Ge says the MetaCore platform will be used to obtainknowledge of gene-gene and protein-protein interactions to help characterizethe proteostasis network.

"We will use the visualization software to help depict theseinteractions," Ge notes. "We will consider this successful if the informationand visualization tools in the MetaCore platform make a significantcontribution to our proteostasis network characterization efforts."

The goal for characterizing the proteostasis network,according to Ge, is to understand diseases on a systems level and to use thisunderstanding in drug discovery efforts.

"We expect this effort to provide us novel insight to thedisease that we study and help to discover and design small molecules withincreased efficacy and reduced toxicity," Ge notes. "In addition, we expectthat our proteostasis network characterization efforts to assist in drugdevelopment activities by providing insights that will assist with patientstratification, dosing schedules, and biomarker tracking. Currently, we aremapping the proteostasis network in a number of normal tissues, but we willexpanding our efforts to characterize proteostasis network changes in diseasestates and under genetic and chemical perturbations."

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Published In

October 2009

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