Case Studies

Babraham Commercialisation Services Ltd. delivers the Institute's commercialisation remit and facilitates academic-commercial links. Commercialisation is achieved mainly through licensing to companies.

All enquiries should be made to:

Contact: Dr Katy Evans-Roberts, Commercialisation Manager.
Telephone 01223 496208

Email katy.evans-roberts@babraham.co.uk

or visit the Babraham Commercialisation Services Ltd website at www.babrahamcs.co.uk

Acquired resistance to MEK1/2 Inhibitors

A growing problem in treating tumours is their ability to develop resistance to new chemotherapeutic drugs, causing disease relapse. A recent breakthrough made by Simon Cook in the Laboratory of Signalling and Cell Fate at Babraham has been the discovery of how tumour cells can acquire resistance to an anti-cancer drug (AZD6244). The research, a collaboration with scientists at AstraZeneca and the MRC Cancer Cell Unit in Cambridge, provides new insight into a protein pathway that normally controls cell division (the BRAF-MEK-ERK pathway), and greater understanding of tumour cells' versatility to overcome therapies targeting this pathway.

5-hydroxymethylcytosine Antibody

Research in the Reik lab has shown that a new type of epigenetic modification, 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC), is enriched in euchromatic areas of the genome, and is associated with increased gene expression. It is believed that the conversion of 5-methylcytosine (5-mC) to 5-hmC increases transcriptional levels. During this study the lab generated a monoclonal antibody against 5-hmC which has now been non-exclusively licensed to several companies, and is also available through the Babraham Institute's Antibody Facility.