Persomics is a private

life science Life, also known as biota, refers to matter that has biological processes, such as signaling and self-sustaining processes. It is defined descriptively by the capacity for homeostasis, organisation, metabolism, growth, adaptation, respon ...

company specializing in genetic research, with locations in

Boston, MA Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Cupertino, CA Cupertino ( ) is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States, directly west of San Jose, California, San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The ...

, and

Gothenburg, Sweden Gothenburg ( ; ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gubernatorial seat of Västra Götaland County, ...

. The company’s aim is to simplify and expedite the process of discovering the basis of

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that adversely affects the structure or function (biology), function of all or part of an organism and is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical condi ...

, and it has established a particular

phenotypic screening Phenotypic screening is a type of screening used in biological research and drug discovery to identify substances such as small molecules, peptides, or RNAi that alter the phenotype of a cell or an organism in a desired manner. Phenotypic screen ...

kit that it uses for this purpose. These kits facilitate the interrogation of thousands of

genes In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...

in parallel, and therefore pertain to

human genome The human genome is a complete set of nucleic acid sequences for humans, encoded as the DNA within each of the 23 distinct chromosomes in the cell nucleus. A small DNA molecule is found within individual Mitochondrial DNA, mitochondria. These ar ...

pharmaceutical Medication (also called medicament, medicine, pharmaceutical drug, medicinal product, medicinal drug or simply drug) is a drug used to diagnose, cure, treat, or prevent disease. Drug therapy ( pharmacotherapy) is an important part of the ...

and

disease model A disease is a particular abnormal condition that adversely affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism and is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that are asso ...

research.

Technology

By 2013 the

drug discovery In the fields of medicine, biotechnology, and pharmacology, drug discovery is the process by which new candidate medications are discovered. Historically, drugs were discovered by identifying the active ingredient from traditional remedies or ...

market had begun shifting from the single to the multi-target paradigm, of which Persomics’ technology is a part. Prior to that time, popular

efforts focused on identifying single drugs that fit into specific cellular targets; this came to be known as target-based screening (i.e.

reverse pharmacology In the field of drug discovery, reverse pharmacology also known as target-based drug discovery (TDD), a hypothesis is first made that modulation of the activity of a specific protein target thought to be disease modifying will have beneficial t ...

). The multi-target approach entails the understanding that, although one drug compound might fit into a single target, diseases are associated with complex biological processes, and often multiple cellular targets, which are more difficult to unlock. Today

is enjoying a significant resurgence as part of the portfolio of

strategies leveraged at most companies. This is because

products (such as those offered by Persomics) offer a potentially revolutionary approach to discerning multiple cellular targets as the basis for genetic disease.

Phenotypic screening Phenotypic screening is a type of screening used in biological research and drug discovery to identify substances such as small molecules, peptides, or RNAi that alter the phenotype of a cell or an organism in a desired manner. Phenotypic screen ...

can lead to the identification of a

molecule A molecule is a group of two or more atoms that are held together by Force, attractive forces known as chemical bonds; depending on context, the term may or may not include ions that satisfy this criterion. In quantum physics, organic chemi ...

that modifies an organism or disease

phenotype In genetics, the phenotype () is the set of observable characteristics or traits of an organism. The term covers the organism's morphology (physical form and structure), its developmental processes, its biochemical and physiological propert ...

; it does this by acting on a previously unknown target or by acting simultaneously on more than one target. Phenotypic screening is therefore a method utilized in perceiving

gene expression Gene expression is the process (including its Regulation of gene expression, regulation) by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product that enables it to produce end products, proteins or non-coding RNA, ...

. This is of importance to human health because

eukaryotic cells The eukaryotes ( ) constitute the domain of Eukaryota or Eukarya, organisms whose cells have a membrane-bound nucleus. All animals, plants, fungi, seaweeds, and many unicellular organisms are eukaryotes. They constitute a major group of li ...

(e.g. human cells) have many sophisticated ways of controlling

. One of those ways is through the agency of

siRNA Small interfering RNA (siRNA), sometimes known as short interfering RNA or silencing RNA, is a class of double-stranded non-coding RNA molecules, typically 20–24 base pairs in length, similar to microRNA (miRNA), and operating within the RN ...

s. By directing

gene silencing Gene silencing is the regulation of gene expression in a cell to prevent the expression of a certain gene. Gene silencing can occur during either Transcription (genetics), transcription or Translation (biology), translation and is often used in res ...

, siRNAs act as

RNA interference RNA interference (RNAi) is a biological process in which RNA molecules are involved in sequence-specific suppression of gene expression by double-stranded RNA, through translational or transcriptional repression. Historically, RNAi was known by ...

, effectively inhibiting the expression of a gene in question. Since the time that the human genome was sequenced, the

s correlating to each gene have been synthesized by various companies. The use of

s therefore facilitates research into the

by allowing for selective suppression of specific genes of interest. Persomics produces a ready-made experiment kit in which any of these

s can be contained. The kit contains the company’s plates, which can hold approximately 3,000 spots of sub-millimeter-sized

s; these can be specified by the researcher requesting the kit. The experiment allows investigators to conduct multiple experiments (up to 3,000 per plate) of different

libraries A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

.Mike Sjaastad qtd. in Macron, Doug
"Startup Persomics Aims to Launch Mini RNAi Screening Tech by Year-End.”
“Persomics News.” GenomeWeb, 8 July 2015. Web. 11 July 2015] A researcher is therefore able to discern and validate several things: the ways in which

are regulated, the specific mechanisms of biological

signaling pathways Signal transduction is the process by which a chemical or physical signal is transmitted through a cell as a series of molecular events. Proteins responsible for detecting stimuli are generally termed receptors, although in some cases the term ...

, and the multiple cellular targets, and various

manipulated as a result of the

. The approach used by the company is a variation in the efficiency and scale of

Applications

There are several multi-target approaches to drug discovery, among them that are used by Persomics. Multi-target alternatives to Persomics’ technology include

drug repositioning Drug repositioning (also called drug repurposing) involves the investigation of existing drugs for new therapeutic purposes. Repurposing achievements Repurposing generics can have groundbreaking effects for patients: 35% of 'transformative' ...

polypharmacy Polypharmacy (polypragmasia) is an umbrella term to describe the simultaneous use of multiple medicines by a patient for their conditions. The term polypharmacy is often defined as regularly taking five or more medicines but there is no standard ...

high-throughput screening High-throughput screening (HTS) is a method for scientific discovery especially used in drug discovery and relevant to the fields of biology, materials science and chemistry. Using robotics, data processing/control software, liquid handling device ...

and

chemogenomics Chemogenomics, or chemical genomics, is the systematic screening of targeted chemical libraries of small molecules against individual drug target families (e.g., GPCRs, nuclear receptors, kinases, proteases, etc.) with the ultimate goal of iden ...

. While these research approaches have proved effective in helping scientists learn more about the

, the majority of the genome is still not understood. This is because approaches pertaining to

have traditionally been expensive and time-consuming. The company embodies a reverse transfection approach to phenotypic screening; this “is essentially a simplified version of what is currently done in multi-well plates” such as those used in both

in vivo Studies that are ''in vivo'' (Latin for "within the living"; often not italicized in English) are those in which the effects of various biological entities are tested on whole, living organisms or cells, usually animals, including humans, an ...

and

in vitro ''In vitro'' (meaning ''in glass'', or ''in the glass'') Research, studies are performed with Cell (biology), cells or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called "test-tube experiments", these studies in ...

. As with this method, visualizing Persomics’ plates is made possible through the use of

fluorescent dyes A fluorophore (or fluorochrome, similarly to a chromophore) is a fluorescent chemical compound that can re-emit light upon light excitation. Fluorophores typically contain several combined aromatic groups, or planar or cyclic molecules with sev ...

. In addition, visualization entails

fluorescence microscopy A fluorescence microscope is an optical microscope that uses fluorescence instead of, or in addition to, scattering, reflection, and attenuation or absorption, to study the properties of organic or inorganic substances. A fluorescence micro ...

, which is a powerful tool used for observing cellular responses and mechanisms.

History

Persomics was founded in 2014, when it established itself as part of the Gatehouse Park biohub in Waltham,

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, which also houses

AstraZeneca AstraZeneca plc () (AZ) is a British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology company with its headquarters at the Cambridge Biomedical Campus in Cambridge, UK. It has a portfolio of products for major diseases in areas includi ...

. In 2007, after many years of research pertaining to cures for

infectious diseases infection is the invasion of tissues by pathogens, their multiplication, and the reaction of host tissues to the infectious agent and the toxins they produce. An infectious disease, also known as a transmissible disease or communicable dise ...

at the

Council for Scientific and Industrial Research A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or nati ...

(CSIR) in

Pretoria Pretoria ( ; ) is the Capital of South Africa, administrative capital of South Africa, serving as the seat of the Executive (government), executive branch of government, and as the host to all foreign embassies to the country. Pretoria strad ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, Persomics made its decision to be based in the greater

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

area which “continues to remain the hub of life-saving scientific research”.Senator Edward M. Kennedy qtd. in Burigatto, Carla, and Earl Whipple
”AstraZeneca to Begin Construction for $100M Research Investment at R&D Boston; Expansion Solidifies Company’s Commitment to Massachusetts as a Scientific and Biotech Hub.”
“AstraZeneca” -.

, 7 May 2007. Web. 11 Aug. 2015

References

{{reflist Drug discovery companies

Technology

Applications

History

See also

References