Sigma-Genosys and Compugen Form Strategic Alliance for the Design and Production of Genome-Wide OligoLibraries

28-Jun-2001

Introducing co-branded genome-wide oligonucleotide collections for high-throughput analysis of gene function

SAN DIEGO, Jun 25, 2001 (BW HealthWire) -- Sigma-Genosys, a member of the Sigma-Aldrich family (NASDAQ:SIAL), and Compugen (NASDAQ:CGEN) announced today at the Bio 2001 meeting in San Diego an alliance for the design, manufacture and commercialization of OligoLibraries(TM), co-branded genome-wide oligonucleotide collections. This alliance leverages Compugen's proprietary LEADS and DNA Chip Design technologies including the unique understanding of alternative splicing and Sigma-Genosys' leading edge technology for synthesis of long oligonucleotides. OligoLibraries will provide the life sciences research community with access to oligonucleotide collections representing genomes of various organisms for the rapidly growing area of high-throughput analysis of gene function. Initial offerings will include whole or partial sets representing the mouse, rat and human genome.

Under the terms of the alliance announced today, Compugen will provide the content and designs of the OligoLibraries and Sigma-Genosys will manufacture the products. The OligoLibraries will be marketed by both parties under a revenue sharing agreement. In addition, Compugen granted Sigma-Genosys a royalty bearing non-exclusive license to incorporate the OligoLibraries into specified products, which may be manufactured by Sigma-Genosys.

The OligoLibraries are organized based on the GeneOntology Consortium (www.geneontology.org) classification and terminology system, which utilizes functional classifications to arrange genes and gene families. Customers of the OligoLibraries will be able to access certain gene sequence and other information relating to OligoLibraries through Compugen's LabOnWeb (www.labonweb.com) life science Internet research engine.

In designing the OligoLibraries, Compugen utilizes its proprietary LEADS platform which produces a comprehensive data source, including tens of thousands of predicted genes, more than 150,000 annotated predicted splice variants and their derived proteins, SNPs, alignment of ESTs to known mRNAs and annotated genomic information. This data source is then mined with Compugen's proprietary chip design tools to select probes that maximize the chance that all alternatively splice variants of a gene will be measured and accounted for in addition to accounting for other significant biological phenomena.

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/3668/sigma-genosys-and-compugen-form-strategic-alliance-for-the-design-and-production-of-genome-wide-oligolibraries.html