PARATUS SCIENCES, NHCS JOIN FORCES TO ACCELERATE HEART FAILURE CARE

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 (Bernama) -- Paratus Sciences Singapore (Paratus) has partnered National Heart Centre Singapore (NHCS) in advancing the research of heart failure (HF) prevention through investigations on bats’ hearts.

In a first of its kind pilot study on the hearts of bats, NHCS researchers discovered that bats have the ability to increase the pumping strength of the hearts when in stress. This suggests that the hearts of bats are highly robust and capable of preserving heart function during intense periods of stress and hence are protected against HF.

“We are thrilled to embark on this pioneering collaboration with the NHCS. It is a partnership that represents a pivotal advancement in our mission to reveal the genetic and evolutionary edge of bats to accelerate the discovery of human therapeutics.

“By merging our expertise in bat genomics and drug discovery with the groundbreaking research of NHCS in heart failure, this collaboration underscores our shared commitment to uncover transformative insights that could revolutionise therapeutic strategies and improve outcomes for patients,” said Paratus Sciences Chief Executive Officer, Dr Theresa G.H. Heah in a statement.

Meanwhile, NHCS National Heart Research Institute Singapore Director, Professor Derek Hausenloy said: “There is much we can learn from the bat’s exceptionally high metabolic rate and efficient heart system, and we look forward to identifying the key factors that can protect the human heart and enhance patient outcomes.”

Following the preliminary discovery of the pilot study, NHCS is advancing the research through its "PREVENT-HF” research platform to further investigate the physiology of the bat heart to understand how it adapts to stress and discover new treatments to improve the heart system in humans to potentially affect positive outcomes for individuals with HF.

As Singapore’s foremost cardiac centre and expertise in generating human patient-specific beating heart cells, NHCS and Paratus will take this collaboration forward with the aim of identifying potential factors that help the hearts of bats adapt to stress, validating these factors, and applying the findings in human patient-specific beating heart cells.

Paratus Sciences Singapore, a subsidiary established by Paratus Sciences, is a start-up biotechnology company that unlocks novel disease targets and accelerates medication discovery by leveraging the extraordinary adaptive biology of bats.

It is developing a proprietary discovery platform that integrates cell biology, genomics and informatics, enabling Paratus to analyse extensive data and compare patterns of disease resistance and health management in bats with disease development and progression in humans.

Through this data-driven comparative analysis, Paratus and the team from NHCS aim to rapidly identify and validate treatment targets. With target identification, Paratus plans to accelerate the development of therapies for human diseases.

-- BERNAMA