PlaqueTec, Babraham Institute collaborate on blood screening

Biotechnology company PlaqueTec and the Babraham Institute’s Flow Cytometry Facility have begun a collaboration to develop cell phenotyping assay to detect cell subpopulations in human blood. The collaboration aims to use the assay to investigate the different cell types present in coronary artery samples collected from patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) participating in PlaqueTec’s ongoing BIOPATTERN trial.

The BIOPATTERN trial uses PlaqueTec’s Liquid Biopsy System to collect samples at multiple sites along a patient’s diseased coronary artery. The resulting data from the cell phenotyping analysis could uncover novel biological insights into the cell types accumulating at coronary disease sites, and the resulting data will be integrated with other multi-omics and imaging data collected in the BIOPATTERN trial to better inform precision approaches to CAD treatment.

According to PlaqueTec, current treatments for CAD are general rather than tailored, and therefore ineffective for many patients. PlaqueTec’s proprietary technology seeks to enable individualized treatment by uncovering potential biomarkers of coronary vascular function and plaque progression.

The team at the Babraham Institute’s Flow Cytometry Facility: (from left, back row) Rachael Walker, Chris Hall, Sam Thompson, and (from left, front row) Kleopatra Dagla, with Diane Proudfoot, PlaqueTec’s Chief Science Officer. Courtesy of PlaqueTec.

“We anticipate these studies will help us to better understand CAD on an individual patient level, informing the development of precision medicine approaches to improve the outcome for patients,” said PlaqueTec Chief Scientific Officer Diane Proudfoot.

PlaqueTec and the Flow Cytometry Facility were awarded funding by the Babraham Research Campus to design and develop an assay for the identification of different cell types present in human blood samples, for use with spectral cytometers. Once validated, the assay will be available as a service at the Flow Cytometry Facility. The funding stems from Campus Collaboration Funding allotted by the U.K. Research and Innovation Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council.