Strategic partnership will focus on generating methylation data as part of ongoing research for early cancer detection

JERUSALEM-Today, Yissum, the Technology Transfer Company of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, announced a strategic collaboration with GRAIL, Inc., a healthcare company whose mission is to detect cancer early, when it can be cured.

Under the agreement, GRAIL will sponsor a research program led by Professor Yuval Dor of The Hebrew University’s Faculty of Medicine.

Professor Dor, working with Dr. Ruth Shemer, Dr. Tommy Kaplan, and Professor Benjamin Glaser from Hadassah Medical Center, is creating a method to determine the tissue origins of circulating DNA, using epigenetic “identity marks” from the DNA that are typical to each cell type, termed DNA methylation.

In the new partnership, GRAIL and the Hebrew University team will collaborate to generate methylation data from multiple cell types to understand how to interpret the source of blood-based signals.

Dr. Yaron Daniely, CEO and President of Yissum, welcomed the agreement. “We are excited to enter this collaboration with GRAIL, which underscores the promise of Professor Dor’s research at Hebrew University and supports our vision of bettering the lives of people around the world through collaborations between industry and academic organizations.”