BALTIMORE, Feb. 21 /PRNewswire/ -- Alba Therapeutics Corporation announced today that the company has been awarded multiple grants, from State and Federal agencies to continue its’ work on the zonulin pathway. Funding from the Maryland Industrial Partnerships (MIPs) will be applied towards completion of zonulin receptor cloning and characterization work currently underway in the laboratory of Alessio Fasano, MD, a professor of pediatrics, medicine and physiology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. A Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant from National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) was awarded to support development of Alba’s lead molecule, AT-1001, for type I diabetes (T1D). “These grants facilitate Alba’s efforts to improve the lives of a wide range of patients. It is our goal to broadly apply our proprietary technology, so as to reduce the burden of autoimmune diseases and other conditions associated with aberrant paracellular permeability,” stated Blake Paterson, MDAlba’s co- founder and chief executive officer.
About Zonulin
Zonulin is a signaling protein that transiently and reversibly opens the tight junctions (“tj”) between the cells of epithelial and endothelial tissues such as the intestinal mucosa, blood brain barrier and pulmonary epithelia. Zonulin appears to be involved in many diseases in which leakage occurs via paracellular transport across epithelial and endothelial tight junctions (tj), and thus may play an important potential role in the treatment of autoimmune diseases.
About T1D
T1D is an autoimmune disease that results in the destruction of the insulin producing cells of the pancreas, the islet beta cells. Current treatment of T1D is limited to the administration of insulin and other medications to treat the consequence of diabetes, elevated blood sugar and the complications thereof. The inability to treat the cause of T1D -- a process known as autoimmunity, in which the body’s immune system attacks the beta cells of the pancreas -- has been the key obstacle to the freeing patients from the yoke of this disease.
About Alba
Alba Therapeutics Corporation is a privately held biopharmaceutical company based in Baltimore, Maryland. Alba is dedicated to commercializing disease-modifying therapeutics and drug delivery adjuvants based on the zonulin pathway. Alba’s lead molecule, AT-1001, is targeted towards the treatment of celiac disease and other auto-immune illnesses.
CONTACT: Heather Bakalyar, PhD, 410-522-8707 EXT. 1106
Alba Therapeutics Corporation
CONTACT: Heather Bakalyar, PhD, of Alba Therapeutics Corporation,+1-410-522-8707, Ext. 1106
Web site: http://www.albatherapeutics.com//
