University of Oxford gains access to biomarker profiling technology

The University of Oxford has announced that it will benefit from Nightingale Health’s biomarker analysis technology. The Finnish company will install its technology in the Nuffield Department of Population Health (NPDH), in the Wolfson Laboratory.

The biomarker platform will allow the university to study large population cross-sections to trace 220 metabolic biomarkers from blood samples. This will be utilised to dovetail with the NPDH’s wider aim of using technology to improve overall population health by reducing disability and premature death.

The NDPH Wolfson Laboratories’ Scientific Director, Michael Hill, said, "This is an excellent opportunity for us to use Nightingale’s bioanalysis platform, which can provide much more data for a relatively small amount of sample than current methods. Ultimately this data will allow us to better understand and treat chronic conditions".

The NDPH’s research with the biomarker technology will be used in large epidemiological studies and cancer trials. The aim is to process hundreds of thousands of blood samples in a few years. This goal will make use of the blood samples that the University of Oxford possesses, with samples numbering in the millions.

Beyond this, the laboratory plans to analyse its China Kadoorie Biobank with the technology on a large scale to better understand treatment for metabolic diseases, including cardiovascular diseases and diabetes.

The research laboratory conducts studies within large population groups, to determine the efficacy of new and old treatments. It is currently running a study of caesarean section, as part of its CORONIS trial, that contains 16,000 participants across 7 countries. It is also conducting a REVEAL trial with 30,000 volunteers from 10 countries involved in a treatment to modify blood cholesterol.

Ben Hargreaves