INFRASTRUCTURE. OligoNova Hub is Sweden’s new national infrastructure for drug development, specifically focused on therapeutic oligonucleotides. Here, researchers with expertise in e.g. bioinformatics, chemistry and cellular biology will work with innovative development projects of drugs for patient groups that currently lack appropriate treatment.
Pär Matsson, professor of pharmacokinetics at the Department of Pharmacology, Sahlgrenska Academy, is head of the OligoNova Hub.
at the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology. Photo: Josefin Bergenholtz.
“My research focuses on drug development, especially how to optimize new classes of drugs so that they reach the specific cells and targets that they are intended to affect. OligoNova Hub’s focus is in-line with my research expertise, and it feels very exciting to be involved in building a national pharmaceutical infrastructure from scratch,” Pär said.
Resource and competence in drug development
The OligoNova HUB’s mission is to support academic research with resources and expertise in the field of drug development.
“Our goal is to help researchers convert their research results into new drugs for patient groups that currently lack appropriate treatment.”
In the first phase, the hub will consist of 8-10 employees, but in the long term, additional team members are to be recruited.
Cooperation Between University and Industry
The hub is organizationally part of Core Facilities at the University of Gothenburg. At the same time, it is part of SciLifeLab’s national drug platform (DDD) and is located in AstraZeneca’s BioVentureHub in Mölndal.
Pär Matsson emphasized that this will enable a broad and important collaboration between universities and industry – which is central to continued world-leading pharmaceutical research in Sweden.
“AstraZeneca have the past years invested in the development of therapeutic oligonucleotides. Now that OligoNova Hub is co-located with AstraZeneca in Mölndal, there will naturally be opportunities for collaboration and for productive discussions with their experts in the field.”
Within the Core Facilities platforms, expertise that is central to drug development projects at OligoNova Hub are already available, for example in areas like proteomics, imaging, bioinformatics, protein production and genomics. Pär also mentions that the Swedish NMR Centre is located nearby at GU, which also gives a great advantage.
“As a newly started platform, we can both use established expertise, instruments and existing project flows, while at the same time contribute to adding new technology and a new class of drugs to the research,” Pär said.
Call for therapeutic oligonucleotide projects
In a call for projects, the HUB is currently looking for project ideas for new therapeutic oligonucleotides. The call is open for scientists with a doctoral degree at a Swedish university or higher institution.
READ FURTHER
- OligoNova Hub
- Oligonova.org
- News article about the first face-to-face OligoNova Network conference: OligoNova sets up first gathering of top Swedish oligonucleotide scientists
BY: CHARBEL SADER
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