The ability of cells to specialize and maintain their identity through multiple cell divisions is critical for human development, tissue renewal and to avoid cancer. A key frontier is therefore to understand epigenetic cell memory that governs transmission of genome function to daughter cells. Anja's project targets a new paradigm for inheritance of epigenetic information, in which communication between the chromatin landscape and spatial genome organization maintains cellular identity and prevents unscheduled loss/gain of functionality connected to aging and cancer.
'It is a great honour to receive the ERC Advanced Grant, the most prestigious research grant in Europe. I am grateful for this important recognition that follows earlier ERC Starting and Consolidator awards to my team’ says Anja.
Ankrin Therapeutics today announced the appointment of Jim Van heusden as Chairman of the Board of Directors. Jim Van heusden, who is based in Belgium, is managing director of bioskills since 2013 and has more than 25 years of experience as investor, board executive and operational manager within the pharmaceutical and biotech sector. He currently serves as Executive Chairman for Rewind Therapeutics.
The Grant will support Ankrin’s discovery programs targeting so-called homologous recombination (HR), a critical DNA damage response (DDR) mechanism in cancer cells. Ankrin’s novel concept provides a new approach to inhibit HR with potential to treat a broad spectrum of cancers.
The Royal Danish Academy has awarded this year’s Queen Margrethe II’s Science Prize to Ankrin’s co-founder and CSO Anja Groth for her outstanding research in molecular cell biology and epigenetics. The pretigious prize of 100,000 DKK will be awarded by HM Queen Margrethe II herself in a ceremony at the Academy later this autumn for the fifth consecutive year. Since 2015, Queen Margrethe II’s Science Prize has been awarded to excellent Danish researchers under the age of 50 working in all scientific fields represented at the Academy.
Ankrin Therapeutics has just become the fifth start-up to be accepted at BioInnovation Institute’s Creation House programme receiving a 10 M DKK convertible loan funding. The funding will be used to identify compounds disrupting essential protein-protein interactions involved in homologous recombination and to develop first-in-class anticancer drugs.
The Danish newspaper Berlingske has published an article about the blooming of Life Sciences start-ups in Denmark during the year 2018 featuring an interview with Ankrin Therapeutics' founder and CSO Professor Anja Groth.
The work, published in Nature Cell Biology, focuses on BARD1, a ‘scanner’ inside the cells that decides whether or not so-called error-free DNA repair, which protects against cancer, is launched.