Compugen to lead EC's MAP kinase R&D consortium

Tel Aviv, Israel-based biotechnology group Compugen says that it is leading a consortium for the development of a platform to simulate the MAP-kinase pathway, a signaling pathway related to cancer targeted by a number of therapies and diagnostics.

The Simulation Modeling of the MAP-kinase Pathway consortium is funded by the European Commission which has allocated 3.1 million euros ($3.7 million) for the project over a three-year period. The consortium includes Aureus Pharma of France, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas and the Institut De Recerca Hospital Universitari Vall De Hebron from Spain, Istituto Nazionale Tumori of Milan, Italy, Germany's Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology, and the UK's University of Glasgow.

The consortium intends to develop a "comprehensive and robust" simulation model of the pathway, which will incorporate data from the literature, as well as experimental and clinical work. The model is expected to create qualitative predictions, followed by experimental verification and will integrate and analyze data from various types of resources ranging from single-molecule information, pathway modeling, clinical data and patient responses.