On July 28, 2022 Bio-Techne Corporation (NASDAQ: TECH) reported the signing of an exclusive licensing agreement to commercialize The University of Dundee’s BromoTAG system and fund the recruitment of postdoctoral researchers at the University’s Centre for Targeted Protein Degradation (CeTPD) (Press release, Bio-Techne, JUL 28, 2022, View Source [SID1234617067]). CeTPD researchers will create new chemical tools that will be commercialized by Tocris, a Bio-Techne brand, for use by the biopharmaceutical research community.
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BromoTAG enables scientists to determine which individual proteins possess the greatest potential as a target for new therapeutic agents. Using genome-editing technologies, BromoTAG pins a small biological tag to a target protein and labels it for subsequent modifications, for example cellular degradation, allowing researchers to evaluate its functional role and impact on disease development. BromoTAG was developed by Conner Craigon and Adam Bond, PhD students at CeTPD and is a powerful chemical biology tool, enabling the rapid and selective removal of any individual protein. It has been shown to degrade the tagged protein at low concentration, within minutes, and reversibly. Critically, it degrades only the individual target protein and prevents any off-target effects.
The University of Dundee is a leader in Targeted Protein Degradation (TPD), a field of research that is revolutionising drug discovery. This approach is making the treatment of diseases previously thought to be undruggable a reality. Dundee researchers and teams led by CeTPD Director, Professor Alessio Ciulli, have previously revealed fundamental insights into the working of the degrader molecules that they have designed and that are used across the globe. Professor Ciulli is a pioneer in protein degraders research, while Tocris has strong know-how and expertise in organic chemistry. Over the past five years, Tocris has been working with Professor Ciulli to commercialize various chemical tools such as inhibitors and degraders developed in his lab.
"We are excited about TPD, both as an enabling technology for life science research, as well as for its potential to deliver new therapeutics in the clinic," said Will Geist, Bio-Techne’s Protein Sciences Segment President. "Bio-Techne has built a leading portfolio of tools and technologies to support scientists through every stage of their TPD research, and we are delighted to offer BromoTAG to researchers through this exclusive license. We have a long-standing relationship with the University of Dundee to commercialize exciting and useful technologies and look forward to expanding this relationship through our support of post-doctoral research."
Professor Ciulli said, "We are delighted to announce the successful commercialization of a recent CeTPD discovery, and for continued collaborative work between Dundee and Tocris. We will jointly work to develop the next-generation BromoTAG for a variety of applications. The licensing deal deepens the relationship between the University and Bio-Techne. These developments cement the importance of our research to the field of targeted protein degradation."