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Advances in characterizing disease at the molecular level are increasingly recognized as central to the future of health care. The diagnostics industry has developed powerful methods to locate, quantify, and identify metabolites, nucleic acids, and proteins. There is currently no general diagnostics strategy, however, to determine protein functional status, especially in cells or intact tissue. Ensemble has developed assays, based on DNA-Programmed Chemistry™ (DPC™) that demonstrate this capability.
Protein functionality is frequently modulated by formation of dimeric complexes, post-translational modification, or inherited and somatic mutations of structure. Each of these types of modulation has been shown to be important in the pathology of particular diseases and responses to therapy. Ensemble’s Programmed Bioassays™ have the ability to monitor each of these types of modulation in intact cells and tissues.
Technology
Ensemble’s detection platform is based on the use of DPC to control individual chemical reactions in response to the presence of a biological analyte, forming a new compound with signaling capability which is then detected. These Programmed Bioassays will be valuable in both research and clinical diagnostic settings, and can be flexibly configured for a variety of formats including solution assays, fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS), and immunohistochemistry (IHC).
Programs
Our lead protein complex program for use in tissues is focused on detection of dimers of the ERBB family in human epithelial cells, the function of which is important for many cancers, including breast cancer. Our lead program to detect protein mutation in intact blood cells is focused on the abnormal fusion protein BCR/ABL, responsible for the generation of the blood cancer Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia.
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