Ubiquigent obtains exclusive license for UbiSite® technology to strengthen its specialist drug discovery services

Dundee, UK, 31 October 2022: Ubiquigent Limited (Ubiquigent), a drug discovery and development company harnessing novel deubiquitylase (DUB) modulators as new therapeutics for areas of high unmet medical need, has signed an exclusive license with the University of Southern Denmark for its UbiSite® technology. UbiSite® will form a new component in Ubiquigent’s DUB and ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) focused drug discovery platform, providing a fully supported ubiquitomics service to facilitate target identification, target validation, and compound mechanism of action.

UbiSite® technology uses an antibody specific to the C-terminal of ubiquitin for the capture and further identification of protein ubiquitylation sites in cell and tissue samples, enabling a more detailed analysis to reveal deeper insights into the ubiquitome. The validated, ready-to-use service can distinguish between ubiquitin and ubiquitin-like modifications, such as SUMO, Nedd8 and ISG15 on lysine residues, as well as on serine and threonine residues which have only recently been identified.

Dr Sheelagh Frame, Chief Scientific Officer, Ubiquigent, said: “We are delighted to have acquired an exclusive license agreement for the UbiSite® technology. UbiSite® provides an additional layer to Ubiquigent’s drug discovery and development capabilities, allowing us to fully support our customers with a validated ubiquitomics service that enables deeper insights into the ubiquitome, as well as to strengthen the development of our own portfolio of novel DUB modulators and associated drug discovery programmes.”

Professor Blagoy Blagoev, Academic Inventor of UbiSite® Technology, University of Southern Denmark, commented: “DUBs regulate ubiquitylation, key to cellular protein homeostasis, activity, and degradation, and thereby hold huge potential as exciting new drug discovery targets. We are pleased to be licensing our UbiSite® technology to Ubiquigent, a Company that is strongly positioned to facilitate DUB focused drug discovery programmes and power advances in this largely unexploited field.”

Professor Sir Philip Cohen, Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board, Ubiquigent, added: “Using the UbiSite® technology in an important collaborative research project, my lab has been able to obtain ubiquitomics data that we had previously been unable to achieve with alternative methods. UbiSite® will be a great asset to Ubiquigent’s end-to-end drug discovery platform, further extending the reach of the Company’s services and capabilities.”

To learn more about Ubiquigent’s DUB focused drug discovery capabilities and services, contact services@ubiquigent.com