Invicro Scientists Published in Science Translational Medicine

BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–#biomarkers–Invicro LLC, a Konica Minolta company and a leading provider of imaging biomarkers, core lab services and software for research and drug development, announces that the paper “In vivo Detection of Cerebral Tau Pathology in Long-term Survivors of Traumatic Brain Injury¹” has been published in Science Translational Medicine.

Invicro London scientists, Doctors Alex Whittington, Jan Passchier and Roger Gunn, are co-authors of this revolutionary study that uses positron emission tomography (PET) to understand tau pathology in traumatic brain injuries (TBI), years after they occur. The results illustrate that tau PET is an encouraging approach for measurement of progressive neurodegeneration associated with tauopathy following TBI.

“It was exciting to be part of this groundbreaking study with Dr. Nikos Gorgoraptis and Prof. David Sharp which shows that Tau PET imaging is an important biomarker for TBI and CTE,” stated Dr. Roger Gunn, EVP of Quantitative Data Sciences for Invicro and Professor of Molecular NeuroImaging at Imperial College London. “The advanced Tau analytics that were developed as part of this work further complement Invicro’s leading Tau^IQ analytics platform in Neurodegeneration.”

TBI can lead to life-long chronic neurodegeneration, including the possibility of dementia. The publication examines how the use of Flortaucipir ([¹⁸F]AV-1451, [¹⁸F]T807), a PET radioligand for tau, enables the examination of tau pathology in vivo in subjects who are long-term survivors of brain injuries. Flortaucipir has demonstrated potent and specific non-displaceable binding to tau neurofibrillary tangles in both post-mortem human brain tissue and brain scans of subjects with Alzheimer Disease. This study elegantly shows how tau signals can now also be detected in subjects suffering from brain injuries.

“Advanced analytical methods were required to produce these exciting findings and we are delighted that this work has been recognized by Science Translational Medicine, a journal that is known for publishing impactful and high-quality research,” stated Dr. Alex Whittington, PET and MRI Neuro-Imaging Analyst for Invicro.

Established in October 2009 by American Association for The Advancement of Science, Science Translational Medicine is a weekly journal focused on translational medicine and clinical research on human diseases. The journal seeks research that demonstrate significant and innovative progress toward the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of disease in the field of translational medicine. Science Translational Medicine published “In vivo Detection of Cerebral Tau Pathology in Long-term Survivors of Traumatic Brain Injury” on 4 September 2019 at 2 P.M. EST.

“Tau Imaging in neurodegenerative diseases, specifically TBI, is making significant strides,” stated Dr. Jan Passchier, EVP Global Head Laboratories and Clinics for Invicro. “The success of the research presented in this paper is undoubtedly a result of the combination of academic excellence of our esteemed collaborators and the operational and scientific strength Invicro has been able to bring to bear. I look forward to continuing our joint efforts in this important area in order to support disease understanding and enable development and objective testing of potential therapeutic strategies.”

1.“In vivo Detection of Cerebral Tau Pathology in Long-term Survivors of Traumatic Brain Injury,” Authors: Nikos Gorgoraptis, Lucia M. Li, Alex Whittington, Karl A. Zimmerman, Linda M. Maclean, Claire McLeod, Ewan Ross, Amanda Heslegrave, Henrik Zetterberg, Jan Passchier, Paul M. Matthews, Roger N. Gunn, Tom M. McMillan, David J. Sharp

About Invicro

Headquartered in Boston, MA, Invicro was founded in 2008 with the mission of improving the role and function of imaging in translational drug discovery and development across all therapeutic areas. Invicro’s multi-disciplinary team provides a full range of image informatics, engineering and operational services. Originally focused on imaging in discovery phase, in 2016 Invicro expanded its offering in clinical phase research with the acquisition of Molecular Neuroimaging, LLC, followed by the acquisition of Imanova and CORE Clinical in 2017. Now as part of the Konica Minolta precision medicine organization and with their sister company Ambry Genetics, Invicro develops and leverages the latest approaches in quantitative biomarkers including imaging, quantitative pathology and genomics. The successful integration of the discovery and clinical teams onto Invicro’s industry-leading software informatics platforms, VivoQuant® and iPACS®, has inspired a strong and growing presence in the pre-clinical to late-phase clinical markets. For more information, visit www.invicro.com.

About Konica Minolta

Konica Minolta, Inc. (Konica Minolta) is a global digital technology company with core strengths in imaging and data analysis, optics, materials, and nano-fabrication. Through innovation, Konica Minolta creates products and digital solutions for the betterment of business and society—today and for generations to come. Across its Business Technologies, Healthcare, and Industrial-facing businesses, the company aspires to be an Integral Value Provider that applies the full range of its expertise to offer comprehensive solutions to the customer’s most pressing problems, works with the partners to ensure the solutions are sustainable, anticipates and addresses tomorrow’s issues, and tailors each solution to meet the unique and specific needs of its valued customers. Leveraging these capabilities, Konica Minolta contributes to productivity improvement and workflow change for its customers, and provides leading-edge service solutions in the IoT era. Headquartered in Tokyo and with operations in more than 50 countries, Konica Minolta has more than 43,000 employees serving approximately two million customers in over 150 countries. Konica Minolta is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, (TSE4902). For further information, visit: https://www.konicaminolta.com/.

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