Our Story

Reliant Glycosciences was founded in 2015 as a spin-out company from the University of Alabama at Birmingham based on technology developed in the laboratory of Dr. Jan Novak in the Department of Microbiology. Dr. Novak's research group discovered autoantibodies in patients with IgA nephropathy specific for aberrantly glycosylated IgA1, galactose-deficient in some of the hinge-region O-glycans. These autoantibodies drive formation of pathogenic immune complexes some of which deposit in the kidneys to incite tissue injury. Serum levels of these autoantibodies predict disease progression. These discoveries led to the development of biomarker assays for IgA nephropathy that have the potential to diagnose and monitor the disease.

In partnership with UAB, Reliant Glycosciences licensed this technology to develop the assays for commercial use.