IMDEA Food and Metabolon, Inc. Announce Strategic Collaboration to Advance Nutrition-based Personalized Medicine

IMDEA Food, a Translational Research Institute from the Community of Madrid, dedicated to investigating the relationships among nutrition, food and health, and the US-based company Metabolon Inc., the pioneering leader in the field of metabolomics and molecular diagnostics serving the pharmaceutical and food industries, today announced an ambitious collaboration program. The agreement, signed today in Madrid by Dr. John Ryals, President and CEO of Metabolon, and Dr. Guillermo Reglero, Director of IMDEA Food, establishes the framework for future strategic projects aimed to develop functional foods and diagnostic tools.

Of particular interest is the prevention of prevalent chronic diseases with high societal impact, such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, obesity and neurological diseases, which are highly dependent on understanding food science and nutritional impact. To achieve this goal, individual in-depth studies to characterize the molecular mechanisms underlying the health benefits of foods and food components are needed.

“These studies promise to lead toward an efficient decrease of morbimortality due to chronic degenerative diseases and a better quality of life. IMDEA Food and Metabolon will combine their knowledge to advance towards this objective. A combined functional genomics and metabolomics approach involving complementary technologies and multidisciplinary expertise is paramount to achieve the scientific rigor and level of evidence required to bring nutrition-based personalized medicine to the public with the final objective of living longer and healthier”, commented Prof. Jose Ordovas of Tufts University, a world-renowned pioneer in nutirgenomics. Prof. Ordovas serves as the Senior Scientist and Director for the Nutrition and Genomics Laboratory and as the Chair of the Functional Genomics Core of the Jean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University. Since its inception in 2007 Prof. Ordovas has been Chairman of the Board and Scientific Director of IMDEA Food.

The IMDEA Food Institute carries out human nutrigenomic studies, which are reviewed by a Research Ethical Committee, on its platform comprised of common services for genomics, biostatistics, bioinformatics and nutritional counseling. Metabolon is the world leader in metabolomic analysis of complex biological samples and has made major contributions to the discovery of biomarkers and biochemical pathways associated with nutrients and drugs, and which have led to the development of unique diagnostic tools. Scientists from IMDEA Food and Metabolon have met in IMDEA Food’s new headquarters located in Madrid to define the lines of common interest and greatest priority and to launch the first of a series of studies aimed at defining the molecular basis of action of key food ingredients.

Dr. Steve Watkins, Chief Technology Officer, Metabolon commented, “Collaborative studies with IMDEA will employ the combined resources and expertise of our organizations to identify appropriate biomarkers of disease risk and prevention and to monitor biological impact of nutritional components in foods. This strategic collaboration is pivotal to advancing our understanding of nutrition’s influence on health and disease.”