Assay Depot And Rare Genomics Institute Award Prizes To Study 26 Rare Diseases

“Despite a significant public need, rare diseases are often overlooked,” said Jimmy Lin, President of the Rare Genomics Institute. “We join in the global celebration of Rare Disease Day by raising awareness and providing some much needed resources to support some of the most innovative work in the area of rare diseases.”

Rare diseases affect more than 25 million Americans, yet less than five percent of the 7,000 known rare diseases have treatments available. The BeHEARD Challenge encourages non-profits, academic researchers, rare disease advocacy groups, families of rare disease patients and for-profit companies to collaborate in their collective mission to advance rare disease research.

The awards include: creating a mouse model to study Sanfilippo Syndrome, which results in severe neurological deterioration in children; providing DNA sequencing to discover new genes that cause Osteogenesis imperfecta; providing tools and reagents to discover new drugs for Charcot-Marie-Tooth, which results in nerve degeneration and muscle loss.

“Our mission is to empower scientists and the rare disease community, and break down the longstanding barriers to conducting drug discovery research,” said Kevin Lustig , CEO of Assay Depot and platinum sponsor of BeHEARD. “This competition furthers that mission by advancing the fundamentals of the open science movement, which is the key to innovation and will be a large part of the industry’s future.”

About Rare Genomics Institute

RGI is a non-profit that makes cutting edge research technologies and experts accessible to rare disease patients. By providing an expert network and an online crowdfunding mechanism, RGI helps families source, design, and fund personalized research projects in diseases not otherwise studied. Ultimately, RGI aims to expand on its current genome sequencing-focused approach to enable community funding to support whatever type of research is necessary to get closer to rare disease therapeutics. For more information, visit: http://raregenomics.org.

About Assay Depot

Assay Depot is the world’s leading provider of outsourced scientific services. The company operates a network of online research marketplaces that dramatically streamline purchases between scientists and 8,000+ global research vendors. Assay Depot is changing the way life science research is done.

Contact: Maria Thompson (619) 733-5405 [email protected]

SOURCE  Assay Depot
RELATED LINKS http://www.assaydepot.com