Semiotik, portfolio company of Biofund RVC, made an agreement with Yashraj Biotechnology,a Mumbai-based company, for the supply of research microchip on the base of carbohydrates (glycochip) for assay of glycan-binding proteins.

Glycochip Semiotik is a thin slide containing a library of polysaccharides (glycans). It is possible to attach up to 600 glycans to the chip and diagnose about a hundred diseases with its help. In particular, the chip can be used for diagnostics on infectious, autoimmunity and oncological diseases.

The study performed by the specialists of Yashraj Biotechnology using glycochip Semiotik containing up to 400 glycans demonstrated that two of seven studied antibodies bound specifically carbohydrate ligands. These data opens the prospect of targeted bioengineering of new antibodies both for diagnostics and therapy of malignant neoplasms.

The concept of this unique microchip was designed and developed in Shemyakin-Ovchinnikov Institute of Bioorganic Chemistry of the Russian Academy of Sciences by the team of the Laboratory of Carbohydrates in collaboration with New York University, which helps in clinical trials, certification and licensing of the microchip for the markets of Russia, CIS and USA.

At present microchips Semiotik are used by several groups from Russia, Switzerland, Spain, Bulgaria and USA.

"At the example of cooperation with Yashraj Biotechnology. we can see the demand for the glycochip platform developed by Semiotik for solution of complex reaserch tasks of the search of diagnostic biomarkers not only in Russia but also abroad," said Mr Egor Beketov, general director of Biofund RVC.