HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA, CANADA – June 27, 2011 -- Innovascreen, Inc., a private biotechnology company focused on the ASET Platform for preclinical development of oncology compounds, announces today that work done by Dr. John Lewis, using the ASET Platform, was featured on the cover of this month’s issue of the industry leading journal, Small. “The ASET Platform offers a powerful tool to develop in vivo data for drug delivery as well as preclinical research to study tumor pharmacokinetics,” said Dr. John Lewis, President and CEO of Innovascreen and author of the paper. “By using the ASET platform, we were able to demonstrate that viral nanoparticles decorated with cancer targeting peptides are promising molecular imaging agents for prostate cancer.”
The cover image shows a live image of a growing blood vessel, whose endothelial cells have been labelled with fluorescent viral nanoparticles based on the naturally biocompatible cowpea mosaic virus. The ASET platform can be employed to visualize multiple features simultaneously, including the endothelial cell nuclei, the luminal surface of the endothelium, and the nanoparticles of interest. To create molecular imaging agents that target prostate cancer, Dr. Lewis and co-workers decorated viral nanoparticles with bombesin peptides, polyethylene glycol, and near infrared fluorescent dyes. They observed tumor homing using human prostate tumor xenografts in the ASET platform using intravital imaging. The full paper, “Intravital Imaging of Human Prostate Cancer using Viral Nanoparticles Targeted to Gastrin-Releasing Peptide Receptors”, can be found in the June 20th issue of Small beginning on page 1664.
Small is a peer-reviewed interdisciplinary journal published by Wiley that provides a forum for experimental and theoretical studies of fundamental and applied interdisciplinary research at the micro and nano scale. With an 2009 ISI Impact Factor of 6.171, Small continues to be among the top multidisciplinary journals and is ranked in the Top 10 in all its ISI categories.
Dr. Lewis’ study is published in the June 20th issue of Small, available online at:
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/smll.201190042/abstract
About The ASET Platform
Called the Avian System for Evaluating Therapeutics (ASET) Platform, the proprietary system is a combination of nanotechnology, intravital imaging, and a novel animal model creating the potential for a powerful tool in preclinical therapeutic analytics. The combination of these innovative technologies into the ASET Platform allows Innovascreen to visualize and directly measure the results of a pharmaceutical therapy in vivo in a substantially reduced time compared to conventional in vivo models.
About Innovascreen
Innovascreen is an ideal partner for an organization involved in early stage preclinical development of therapeutic candidates. The Avian System for Evaluating Therapeutics (ASET) Platform allows our clients and partners to screen compound libraries and validates lead candidates for further investment, faster, better and cheaper than other available options. Offered under collaborations, the ASET Platform is an ideal tool for the development of first in vivo data. Innovascreen is a privately held company, headquartered in Nova Scotia, Canada. For more information, please visit www.innovascreen.com
Contact:
Jeff Skinner,
Director, Business Development, Innovascreen, Inc
(902) 482-3832 x 7, jeff.skinner@innovascreen.com