Seahorse Bioscience Enters Into Mitochondrial Research Initiative With University of Alabama

T he Foundation for Mitochondrial Medicine (FMM) and the University of Alabama at Birmingham have collaborated with a Massachusetts- based firm to create an initiative intended to better diagnose neuromuscular diseases. FMM will create a reference laboratory focused on metabolic bioenergetics that will concentrate on developing new assays and platforms for detecting and evaluating mitochondrial neuromuscular diseases. Much of the testing platform will be provided by Seahorse Bioscience, which has developed testing platforms to measure cell metabolism and its related functions. Seahorse was acquired by Agilent Technologies Inc. just days before the deal with FMM and the University of Alabama. Financial terms of the initiative were not disclosed.

"The most serious diseases that affect developed nations, such as atherosclerosis, neurodegeneration and diabetes, are known to involve changes in bioenergetic health," said Victor Darley-Usmar, professor of mitochondrial medicine and pathology at the University of Alabama and vice-chair for research in its pathology department, in a statement. "The challenge is to translate the findings in basic research in mitochondrial function and the pathology of disease to the clinic, and this program will be a major step toward achieving that aim."

Victims of mitochondrial disease can acquire their disorders in a variety of ways, including through inherited genetics and mutations, or through aging, environmental stress or changes in their metabolism.

"By establishing the clinic and sharing this vision, we plan to address the unmet clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic needs of the mitochondrial patient community," said Laura Stanley, Executive Director of FMM, in a statement. "Clinical needs of the patient community will be coordinated under one roof, and multiple specialists will join together to serve complex patient populations whose symptoms require the collective knowledge of neurologists, geneticists, gastroenterologists and others. UAB and Seahorse Bioscience have made revolutionary advancements in the field of bioenergetics, and UAB's established research expertise and longstanding work in neuromuscular diseases make it the ideal location for the program."

Takeaway: A mitochondrial medical research initiative will include the development of new laboratory assays and test platforms.