Date: March 9, 2015 By:
Enumeral Biomedical Holdings, Inc. (OTCQB:ENUM) today announced that the company signed an agreement with the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and Harvard University as part of Enumeral’s Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) contract with the National Cancer Institute (NCI). Enumeral is developing an advanced, automated prototype system for human tissue immuno-oncology profiling, which will be deployed in the laboratory of Douglas S. Kwon, M.D., Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Ragon Institute. Enumeral recently announced an agreement to place the system with Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center.
“We believe that an automated profiling system will take significant steps toward streamlining our processes, increasing throughput and, importantly, allowing us to interrogate the human immune microenvironment at the cellular level,” said Dr. Kwon.
Dr. Kwon’s research focuses on the immunology of mucosal surfaces and tissues, which are home to between 60 and 90 percent of the body’s lymphocytes, which are primary disease-fighting white blood cells. Studying these immunological compartments in human patients relies on “small volume” clinical specimens such as core biopsy, which often contain limited numbers of cells and can be challenging to analyze with conventional technologies.
“We are excited to expand our relationship into a formal collaboration with Dr. Kwon, given his expertise in human mucosal immunology as well as his lab’s familiarity with our platform through his work with our scientific founder at MIT,” said Arthur H. Tinkelenberg, Ph.D., President and CEO of Enumeral. “This collaboration with the Ragon Institute may broadly impact our understanding of the fundamental biology of the human mucosal immune microenvironment, which in turn could impact the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases, inflammatory diseases and cancers.”
Enumeral’s collaboration with the Ragon Institute is supported by a Phase II SBIR contract from the NCI for $999,967 over two years. The NCI is funding the entirety of the program, which complements Enumeral’s other internal research and development efforts. Enumeral generated proof of concept in this area under a Phase I contract in 2012 and 2013.
We are deeply saddened to announce the passing of Ragon Institute faculty member Todd M. Allen, PhD, a pioneering researcher in T cell immunotherapy and HIV evolution and transmission.
Researchers at the University of Amsterdam, in collaboration with the Batista Lab at the Ragon Institute, have developed a potential new approach for an HIV vaccine.
Researchers at the Ndhlovu Lab, part of the Ragon Institute and the Africa Health Research Institute (AHRI), have completed a significant study on the safety and practicality of lymph node excisions for HIV cure research in South Africa.