IMU and UK Biobank to generate the world’s most detailed, large-scale picture of the human immune system for advancingresearch into health and disease
IMU is collaborating with UK Biobank, Waters Corporation and Ultima Genomics to profile blood samples from an initial cohort of 80,000 UK Biobank blood samples
IMU will generate more than 100 million immune data points from each sample tocreatethe largest, most detailedimmune dataset assembled to date
The study willadd a high-resolution immune profiling layer to UK Biobank’s existing de-identified genomic, imaging, clinical and lifestyle data to enable a better understanding of how immune variation relates to disease risk, progression, treatment response and long-term health outcomes
LONDON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–
IMU Biosciences (‘IMU or the ‘Company’), a biotechnology company using its High Definition Immunology™ platform to better understand the immune system and drive a shift in how we understand, diagnose, and treat disease, has today announced a new collaboration with UK Biobank to generate large-scale multi-omic immune profiling data from 80,000 blood samples collected from UK Biobank participants.
The project will use IMU’s HD Immunology™ platform in conjunction with Waters Corporation’s flow cytometry and multi-omic instrumentation as part of the strategic partnership announced in June. Ultima Genomics’ (‘Ultima’) recently launched UG200 Sequencing Platform will produce the project’s readouts, providing the magnitude and economics for large scale omics data generation, complementing Ultima’s existing work as part of UK Biobank Pharma Proteomics Project. By integrating high-dimensional immune-cell profiling, transcriptomic analysis and AI-based computational methods, the study aims to create the most detailed large-scale picture of the human immune system ever seen.
UK Biobank is the world’s most comprehensive source of biomedical data for health research in the public interest. Its dataset includes de-identified biological, clinical, imaging and lifestyle data collected from 500,000 volunteers over the last 15 years and continues to grow. In line with UK Biobank’s established access procedures, data generated through the study will, over time, be returned to UK Biobank and made available to approved researchers. This will add a new immune profiling layer to an established international research resource.
IMU is building a high-resolution immune dataset designed to connect individual immune profiles with large-scale clinical data. In the first phase of the study, IMU will apply its high-throughput immune profiling platform to blood samples from over 80,000 UK Biobank blood samples, with the ambition to expand across the full UK Biobank cohort of 500,000 participants.
The collaboration will add detailed immune profiling to UK Biobank to create a powerful new layer of biological information for researchers studying immune variation across health and disease. The immune system is central to ageing, infection, cancer, autoimmunity, metabolic disease and neurodegeneration, but large-scale studies often lack the resolution needed to examine how immune variation relates to future outcomes. This study aims to reveal how immune profiles relate to disease risk, progression, treatment response and long-term health outcomes.
IMU has recently been awarded a £1.57 million Sovereign AI grant from the UK government as part of its Strategic Assets programme for the delivery of the project. The funding is a testament to both the value of IMU’s technology, as well as the collaboration’s potential to create a valuable piece of shared infrastructure which will further cement the UK’s place as a global leader in sciences and medical discovery.
For IMU, the study will strengthen the Company’s ability to develop and validate immune profiles for patient stratification, biomarker discovery, translational research and future clinical applications, and to generate new foundational AI models of immunology for target discovery. By working with UK Biobank, Waters Corporation and Ultima Genomics, IMU aims to generate immune data at the scale, reproducibility and resolution needed to support both broad biomedical research and future studies of immune prediction.
Dr Adam Laing PhD, Co-Founder and Chief Scientific Officer of IMU Biosciences said:
“IMU and UK Biobank’s collaboration represents an important opportunity to add a new immune dimension to one of the world’s most important and comprehensive biomedical research resources. UK Biobank has transformed how researchers study the genetic, molecular and lifestyle factors that contribute to health and disease and this study will help generate an unrivalled resource that we believe will bring huge value across biomedical research and, ultimately, patients.
By adding a high-resolution immune profiling layer to the UK Biobank’s existing data researchers studying immune variation across a number of disease areas will be able to identify how immune profiles relate to disease risk, progression, treatment response and long-term health outcomes.”
Professor Naomi Allen, Chief Scientist at UK Biobank, said:
“This new dataset will provide our global research community with a valuable insight into how the immune system changes with ageing. Scientists will be able to study which specific immune cell changes contribute to the future risk of conditions like cancer, diabetes and dementia, paving the way for earlier disease detection and more accurate diagnosis.
“Blood samples from UK Biobank’s generous participants have already been turned into genetic, proteomic and metabolomic data. When complete, this detailed map of the immune system will in turn fuel the detection of new drug targets and help clinicians to understand who might respond best to a particular treatment.”
Gilad Almogy, Chief Executive Officer of Ultima Genomics said:
“IMU’s work with UK Biobank represents exactly the type of large-scale, data-intensive program our recently launched UG200 Platform was designed to enable. Having also recently been selected for UK Biobank’s 600,000 sample Pharma Proteomics Project, Ultima is proud to continue enabling the addition of new omics data layers from one of the world’s most important biomedical research resources. Generating data at this scale requires a combination of throughput, quality, cost efficiency and operational execution. We are pleased to support IMU as it creates a high-resolution view of the human immune system across a population-scale cohort, generating data that can advance immune prediction, disease understanding, therapeutic research and AI-enabled biomedical discovery.”
Steve Conly, Senior Vice President, Waters Biosciences at Waters Corporation said:
“This pioneering collaboration showcases how the convergence of advanced flow cytometry, single-cell multi-omics, sequencing, AI-driven analysis, and large-scale sample sets can unlock entirely new dimensions of immune insights. Together, our cutting-edge BD FACSDiscover™ Cell Analyzer platform, BD flow cytometry reagents, BD Rhapsody™ instruments, and BD OMICS-One™ WTA Next Assay and Protein Panels will support IMU and our shared vision of advancing immune profiling into a standardized, widely accessible tool that can help transform how diseases like cancer are understood, monitored and treated.”
About IMU Biosciences
IMU Biosciences is using its High Definition (HD) Immunology™ platform to decode the immune system at unprecedented resolution, speed, and scale to pioneer a paradigm shift in how we understand, diagnose and treat disease.
Founded by leading experimental immunologists and computational biologists with over a decade of systems immunology expertise, IMU combines deep immune profiling from small blood samples with population scale immune reference data and AI analysis as it builds the world’s largest immune dataset.
The HD Immunology™ platform uses a simple blood sample to measure the immune system in unprecedented detail to help clinical, pharma and biotech partners interpret immune biology with greater resolution and predict clinical outcomes earlier, while also establishing a universal standard for immune profiling to fuel discoveries.
IMU is applying its platform across a broad range of immune-mediated diseases and therapeutic contexts, with active programmes in stem cell and bone marrow transplantation, solid organ transplantation, and immuno-oncology. To learn more, www.imubiosciences.com.
About UK Biobank
UK Biobank is the world’s most comprehensive source of biomedical data available for health research in the public interest. Over the past 15 years we have collected biological, health and lifestyle information from 500,000 UK volunteers. The dataset is continuously growing, with additions including the world’s largest set of whole genome sequencing data, imaging data from 100,000 participants and a first-of-its kind set of protein biomarkers from 54,000 participants. Since 2012, scientists from universities, charities, companies and governments across the world can apply to use the data to advance modern medicine and drive the discovery of new preventions, treatments and cures. Over 22,000 researchers, based in more than 60 countries, use UK Biobank data, and more than 18,000 peer-reviewed scientific papers have been published as a result. The data are de-identified and stored on our cloud-based platform. UK Biobank is a registered charity and was established by Wellcome and the Medical Research Council in 2003. You can read more about our funding here. www.ukbiobank.ac.uk, LinkedIn, X (Twitter), Facebook, Instagram
About Ultima Genomics
Ultima Genomics is unleashing the power of genomics at scale. The Company’s mission is to continuously drive the scale of genomic information to enable unprecedented advances in biology and improvements in human health. With humanity on the cusp of a biological revolution, there is a virtually endless need for more genomic information to address biology’s complexity and dynamic change—and a further need to challenge conventional next-generation sequencing technologies. Ultima’s revolutionary new sequencing architecture drives down the costs of sequencing to help overcome the tradeoffs that scientists and clinicians are forced to make between the breadth, depth and frequency with which they use genomic information. The new sequencing architecture was designed to scale far beyond conventional sequencing technologies, lower the cost of genomic information, and catalyze the next phase of genomics in the 21st century. To learn more, visit www.ultimagenomics.com
About Waters Corporation:
Waters Corporation (NYSE: WAT) is a global leader in life sciences and diagnostics, dedicated to accelerating the benefits of pioneering science through analytical technologies, informatics, and service. With a focus on regulated, high-volume testing environments, our innovative portfolio harnesses deep scientific expertise across chemistry, physics, and biology. We collaborate with customers around the world to advance the release of effective, high-quality medicines, ensure the safety of food and water, and drive better patient outcomes by detecting diseases earlier, managing routine infections, and combating antibiotic resistance. Through a shared culture of relentless innovation, our passionate team of ~16,000 colleagues turn scientific challenges into breakthroughs that improve lives worldwide. For more information, please visit www.waters.com/about.
The BD Biosciences and BD Diagnostic Solutions businesses have been acquired by Waters Corporation (“Waters”). Becton, Dickinson and Company or one of its affiliates or subsidiaries (“BD”) remains the legal manufacturer of Biosciences and Diagnostic Solutions products until all required regulatory transfers are completed. During this interim period, BD maintains full responsibility for all regulatory obligations of the legal manufacturer. Product information provided here is supplied under BD’s regulatory authority. To learn more about the relationship between Waters and BD during this transition period, please see our detailed summary: www.waters.com/bdtransaction.
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