A CRADA for prostate disease research

Cooperation to further progress in prostate disease research

Genomatix Software, the Uniformed Service University of the Health Sciences (USU), and the Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine, Inc. (HJF) have entered into a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to extend their collaborative endeavors in prostate disease research. The aim of the joint research will be to differentiate patients with favorable versus poor prognosis at the time of diagnosis and primary treatment using definitive genetic markers. The majority of prostate cancer cases in PSA-screened population fall into a so called "grey zone" of prostate cancer where outcome is extremely difficult to predict at the time of diagnosis. The CRADA extends a long and already fruitful collaboration (Masuda, Werner et al, J Mol Biol. 353, 763-771 2005; Furusato et al, PCPD. 11, 194-97, 2008) with USU's Center for Prostrate Disease Research (CPDR). This collaboration combines CPDR's translational research resources and expertise and Genomatix' data analysis expertise in teasing out novel androgen receptor binding sites in the genome and analyzing prostate cancer metastasis using prostate cancer model systems and clinical specimens.

"This CRADA is a natural extension of accomplishments we have already achieved together," said Dr. Thomas Werner, founder of Genomatix Software. "Next Generation Sequencing opens a new dimension in biomarker research and will allow a finer grained, unbiased look at some of the genomic mechanisms behind prostate disease, thus providing the opportunity for the discovery of new prognostic biomarkers, some of which also may be targets for therapeutic intervention and treatment monitoring."

Dr. Shiv Srivastava; CPDR Co-director, Scientific Director, and Professor of Surgery at USU added: "Our work to date with Genomatix has been very productive. People from both our organizations have already established quality working relationships. Leveraging this and moving forward together into a technology as ground breaking as Next Generation Sequencing holds great promise for significant progress in prostate disease research."