Print
Email
Print Edition StoriesThursday, March 12, 2009
BG Medicine, BU to use Framingham Heart Study to research heart disease
By Mass High Tech Staff
MHT's Marc Songini: Mass. bio firms prep for lifting of stem cell ban
In their own words: Tod Woolf, CEO, RXi Pharmaceuticals Corp.
Biomarker-focused biotech BG Medicine Inc. reports it is teaming up with Boston University and the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health to research heart disease using data from the famous Framingham Heart Study.
BG Medicine signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement with the institute and BU that will have the three organizations jointly conducting a series of biomarker discovery studies for heart disease, as well as for early detection of metabolic syndrome which may increase the risk of developing cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
No financial details of the deal were disclosed. The research is looking to identify people at high risk of heart attack and stroke.
Metabolic syndrome is the term for a combination of certain risk factors, including abdominal obesity, hypertension and insulin resistance. BG Medicine will analyze samples collected over decades by Framingham Heart Study researchers. The Framingham Heart Study is backed by NHLBI and works in collaboration with BU’s School of Medicine and School of Public Health.
According to BG Medicine officials, the collaboration is the first time in the 60 years of the Framingham Heart Study that it is teaming up with a commercial company in a CRADA research project. Since it launched in 1948, more than 9,000 participants over three generations have enrolled in the Framingham Heart Study.
Comments
If you are commenting using a Facebook account, your profile information may be displayed with your comment depending on your privacy settings. By leaving the 'Post to Facebook' box selected, your comment will be published to your Facebook profile in addition to the space below.
RSS Feeds
