Biotech company expands Alzheimer's disease partnership with CU

The University of Colorado and AmideBio, LLC have completed an agreement creating a research collaboration with a CU-Boulder lab, and giving AmideBio an option to newly discovered drug candidates for Alzheimer's disease.

Research under the new sponsored agreement with the lab of Michael Stowell, Ph.D., an associate professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology, will use a novel screening process to find compounds that affect the interaction between two proteins believed to be involved in Alzheimer's disease. The agreement gives AmideBio an option to new compounds that are discovered using this screen, which Stowell believes will be useful in treating the disease.

"AmideBio's commitment to our research will help to accelerate the discovery of potential therapeutics for Alzheimer's by providing both financial support and the large quantities of amyloid peptides needed for screening," Stowell said.

Earlier in 2010, AmideBio licensed a CU technology (also from the Stowell lab) for manufacturing recombinant proteins and peptides (molecules which are similar to proteins but smaller). These types of molecules are often key for treating diseases that cannot be addressed using conventional chemical therapeutics, but the field has historically been limited by challenges such as economical manufacturing and delivery. CU's technology circumvents these problems, particularly those associated with longer and more complex peptides, by leveraging a proprietary recombinant strategy that is economically viable and environmentally sustainable.