The Center for Genomic Regulation (CRG), an international biomedical research institute of excellence supported by the Catalan government and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, has entered a research collaboration with Sanofi to share research programs using state-of-the-art experimental platforms and computational and bioinformatics approaches, in computational biology, medical genetics and epigenetics, with special emphasis in genetic and rare diseases.

This strategic partnership is based on the cross-fertilization of R&D know-how from both sides, including scientific resources, structures and information, technical equipment and human talent. 

"Research cannot remain distanced from the needs of society. Biology is getting ever closer to medicine and an institute like the Center for Genomic Regulation must ensure that its research has a positive impact on human health and national economies. Yet, we cannot do this alone and we need to collaborate with strategic partners for this purpose,” said Dr. Luis Serrano, director of the Center for Genomic Regulation. “Through this agreement Sanofi will have increased access to globally cutting-edge research and the CRG will be linked to a major company that can ensure the translation of research into real-life solutions for patients." 

The CRG and Sanofi already have initiated a first set of projects to discover innovative therapeutic approaches for infectious diseases, develop novel delivery systems using synthetic biology, decipher disease-relevant cellular trans-differentiation pathways and identify original targets from unexploited genomic transcription mechanisms. These four projects will bring added value to basic research by offering a better understanding of disease for pathologies such as tuberculosis and cancer, and also by helping to develop new therapeutic solutions for their treatment.

"We recognize that in order to deliver on our promise to address patients’ needs, we need to tap into and enable innovation inside and outside our walls. Our new relationship with the CRG demonstrates our commitment to work with partners on conditions with unmet and growing medical needs,” said Dr. Maya Said, Sanofi R&D vice president for strategy, science policy & external innovation. “This collaboration is a multi-disciplinary approach with our internal exploratory unit and a major R&D center in Europe, aimed at accelerating the pace of translating early disruptive science into validated concepts that will lead to health solutions for patients and create added value to the public investment in basic research.” 

Further highly innovative collaborative projects will be selected and launched within the three-year period of the agreement.

The CRG is an international biomedical research institute of excellence, whose mission is to discover and advance knowledge for the benefit of society, public health and economic prosperity. It is committed to technology transfer and the return of knowledge to society. It has a dedicated technology transfer office and a team of professionals with experience in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical businesses, managing the intellectual property generated in the institute and facilitating its transfer to the companies within the sector as patents and licenses that enable the development of innovative products and services.