ProAxsis Limited has received an Invest NI Grant for Research and Development, supporting the company to develop new products using its innovative ProteaseTag® technology. The grant is part financed under the European Union’s Investment for Growth and Jobs Programme for Northern Ireland.  The project, entitled “The development of ProteaseTags® for deubiquitinases (DUBs): innovative tools for biomarker identification and drug discovery in oncology”, will be implemented over the next 12 months and aims to allow the design and synthesis of peptide-based inhibitors for the DUBs family, followed by an assessment of their incorporation in to prototype activity-based immunoassay formats.

Dr David Ribeiro, CEO of ProAxsis, commented: “Deubiquitinases are known to play important roles in various diseases including different forms of cancer and neurodegeneration, and therefore represent potential therapeutic targets of high interest to the pharmaceutical industry. We’re excited to explore the expansion of our novel ProteaseTag® technology to measure this family of cysteine proteases, and are extremely grateful to Invest NI, who continue to support our ongoing efforts to establish ProAxsis as a global leader in the design, development and commercialisation of highly specific assays for the measurement of active protease biomarkers of disease.”

ProAxsis is part of the NetScientific group and is one of the group’s core portfolio companies. The company is also supported by QUBIS, the commercialisation arm of Queens University.

To find out how ProAxsis can support the measurement of active protease biomarkers of disease, or for any further queries, please contact info@proaxsis.com