The University of Navarra and the new biotechnology company Owl Genomics Owl Genomics have signed an agreement agreement for research on non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), the second most frequent liver disease in Spain. This business, which has been launched thanks to the partnership between researchers from campus Pamplona and business of genomics Medplant, aims to be a pioneer in the diagnosis and treatment of this highly prevalent disorder that can progress to chronic hepatitis and liver cancer.

Owl Genomics' research will focus on finding diagnostic markers and potential therapies for NASH. "At present, this pathology has no simple diagnostic system - liver biopsy is the only reliable method so far - and no effective treatment. However, it is a disorder with serious consequences for the patient," said José Mª Mato, professor at department of Internal Medicine at the University of Navarra and director of this project. "That is why it is considered one of the priority topics in clinical hepatology," he added.

Dr. Mato, who has been researching this pathology for twenty years, indicated that "the discovery of an early and simple diagnostic system - the aim is to find the markers in a blood sample at sample - would prevent many potential patients from developing the disease or would greatly mitigate its effects by changing their habits. In addition, he said, "it would avoid the need for additional costly and/or invasive tests, such as nuclear magnetic resonance, ultrasound or liver biopsy".

Relationship to the absence of a gene

The core topic element of Owl Genomics' research, which will involve scientists from the University of Navarra, the genomics business Medplant and the biotechnology consultancy Cross Road Biotech, will be an experimental animal model developed by Dr. Mato. "This is a knock-out mouse that spontaneously develops NASH due to the deletion of a gene, which allows a precise study and monitoring of the disease before and during the development of the disease. The results obtained from this model acquire special relevance as this same gene is absent in individuals with this pathology," said the professor.

This team of research will work with the experiments performed in the mouse, applying innovative genomics, proteomics and bioinformatics technologies, which provide high productivity to the research. Genomics will be developed in the MedPlant laboratories and proteomics and bioinformatics in the laboratories of the University of Navarra.