Oxford Nanopore Technologies
plc
New
nanopore-based research unlocks insights into disease and
longevity
12 April 2024
Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc
(LSE: ONT) ("Oxford Nanopore"), the company delivering a new
generation of nanopore-based molecular sensing technology, today
announces the publication of a breakthrough study unlocking new
ways to measure the length of human telomeres - the "DNA caps" at
the ends of chromosomes that make up genomes - using nanopore-based
sequencing, providing key insights into the correlation between
telomeres and age-related disease or predisposition to
cancer.
For the first time, in a new
publication in the journal Science,
a team led by Nobel Prize winner
Dr. Carol Greider of UC Santa Cruz was able to measure and
profile telomere length by using Oxford Nanopore's precise
sequencing technology. Greider believes these regions, and the
proteins that bind there, could serve as potential targets for
preventive health and drug discovery efforts.
Over the past 30 years, research by
Greider and others has confirmed that short telomeres can lead to
degenerative disease, long telomeres predispose one to cancer, and
that telomere lengths can vary significantly. However, the detailed
mechanism of length regulation has been poorly understood until
now.
As part of this study, the team of
scientists examined the individual telomere lengths of 147 people
and found the same telomeres were often the shortest or longest.
This means that telomeres on specific chromosome ends may be the
first to trigger stem-cell failure -offering insight into specific
targets for more clinical study and possible drug discovery
research.
This breakthrough research was only
made possible because of Oxford Nanopore's unique features, which
for the first-time enabled scientists to see long telomere-length
reads at ultra-rich, nearly single nucleotide resolution. This
capability has led to an increase in telomere-based interest. In
November 2023, a team led by Oxford Nanopore and the Karlseder lab
at Salk Institute for Biological Studies published a
pre-print
demonstrating the utility of a new workflow,
Telo-seq, to study telomere biology during development, aging and
cancer at unprecedented resolution.
Gordon Sanghera, CEO of Oxford Nanopore,
commented:
"Today marks a significant milestone not just for Oxford
Nanopore but for the field of genomics. This breakthrough
illustrates that what you're missing matters in genomics,
showcasing the benefits of richer insights to capture more types of
genetic variation and unravel the mysteries of biology. It's also a
step towards new healthcare solutions, offering novel avenues for
the prevention and treatment of age-related diseases and cancer. We
are proud to be at the forefront of this research, empowering
scientists worldwide with tools that unlock unprecedented genomic
insight."
[ENDS]
For further information, please
contact:
Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc
Investors: ir@nanoporetech.com
Media: media@nanoporetech.com
Teneo (communications adviser to the
Company)
Tom Murray, Olivia Peters
+44 (0) 20 7353 4200
OxfordNanoporeTechnologies@teneo.com
About Oxford Nanopore Technologies plc:
Oxford Nanopore Technologies' goal
is to bring the widest benefits to society through enabling the
analysis of anything, by anyone, anywhere. The company has
developed a new generation of nanopore-based sensing technology
that is currently used for real-time, high-performance, accessible,
and scalable analysis of DNA and RNA. The technology is used
in more than 120 countries, to understand the biology of humans,
plants, animals, bacteria, viruses and environments as well as to
understand diseases such as cancer. Oxford Nanopore's
technology also has the potential to provide broad, high impact,
rapid insights in a number of areas including healthcare, food and
agriculture.
For more information please
visit: www.nanoporetech.com
Forward-looking statements
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forward-looking statements. For example, statements regarding
expected revenue growth and profit margins are forward-looking
statements. Phrases such as "aim", "plan", "expect", "intend",
"anticipate", "believe", "estimate", "target", and similar
expressions of a future or forward-looking nature should also be
considered forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements
address our expected future business and financial performance and
financial condition, and by definition address matters that are, to
different degrees, uncertain. Our results could be affected by
macroeconomic conditions, the COVID-19 pandemic, delays in our
receipt of components or our delivery of products to our customers,
suspensions of large projects and/or acceleration of large products
or accelerated adoption of pathogen surveillance. These or other
uncertainties may cause our actual future results to be materially
different than those expressed in our forward-looking
statements.