Sprint Bioscience further strengthens its resources with an industrial graduate student and a scientific collaboration with the Luxembourg Institute of Health (LIH).
Autophagy is a process that breaks down defective or damaged cellular components and is used by cancer cells to enhance their ability to survive and grow. Autophagy plays a central role in the development of resistance to chemotherapy and other cancer therapies. Vps34 is a key protein in the initiation of autophagy and Sprint Bioscience is running a pharmaceutical project aiming to combat cancer by inhibiting Vps34.
In the field of immuno-oncology, Sprint Bioscience has initiated a collaboration with Dr. Bassam Janji at the Laboratory of Experimental Cancer Research, LIH, where the scientists are focusing on understanding how cancer cells progressively evolve to acquire an aggressive and metastatic phenotype. Dr. Janji’s team are studying the molecular mechanisms by which tumor cells escape host immune system control, and how tumor cells educate and sculpt stromal cells in the vicinity of the tumor to drive the construction of their own microenvironment. Dr. Janji is an internationally recognized leading scientist in this field and author of several research articles and reviews on the connection between autophagy and cancer. The Sprint Bioscience team has a good understanding of the changes that occur in a tumor when autophagy is inhibited and will, together with Dr. Janji, further examine how these changes may affect the immune response during cancer treatment.
The Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research (SSF) announces funding annually for industrial graduate students. This year, 59 applications were submitted and 12 were awarded funding. Sprint Bioscience in collaboration with Professor Dan Grandér, Department of Oncology and Pathology, Karolinska Institutet, was one of those awarded a grant for an industry graduate student within the subject area “Autophagy in Cancer Therapy.” SEK 2.5 million, distributed over four years, is allocated for the graduate position. The initial focus of the work will be the development of biomarkers to enhance the success of clinical development of drugs that inhibit autophagy. Relevant biomarkers are important in demonstrating the effect of a drug during a clinical trial - without them the trial becomes more complicated and extended.
Sprint Bioscience is focusing on developing new anticancer drugs. In our work against cancer, our discovery group, a multi-disciplinary team of scientists, collaborates with researchers worldwide. We have access to cutting edge expertise in every discipline and area of research to push our drug development projects forward.
For further information, please contact:
Anders Åberg, CEO, Sprint Bioscience
Tel: 46-8-411 44 55
E-post: anders.aberg@sprintbioscience.com
About Sprint Bioscience
Sprint Bioscience AB (publ) is part of the new Swedish pharmaceutical industry and has the goal to develop drug candidates for the global pharmaceutical market within the field of oncology in a more time- and resource-efficient manner. Sprint Bioscience is situated in Stockholm, Sweden. Sprint Bioscience share is listed on NASDAQ First North Premier and traded under the name SPRINT.
Additional information is available on the company website; www.sprintbioscience.com.
Certified Advisor is Erik Penser Bank, www.penser.se.
