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Press Release
Genospectra Signs Exclusive License and Multiyear Collaboration Agreement with CNRS
To develop and commercialize a novel panel of peptide-based delivery reagents
FREMONT, CA June 9, 2005 —Genospectra, Inc., developer of innovative products and technologies for parallel quantitative biology (PQB), and the exclusive provider of QuantiGene®â??quantitative gene expression profiling technology, announced the introduction of a revolutionary new multiplexed gene expression profiling assay, QuantiGene® Plex. QuantiGene Plex is the first available multiplexed gene expression-profiling assay based on the xMAP® technology platform from Luminex Corporation. The relationship provides Genospectra with a worldwide, exclusive license to the novel â??MPGâ?? technology developed by Drs. Frederic Heitz, May Morris, and Gilles Divita at â??Centre de Recherches en Biochimie Macromoleculaireâ?? at the CNRS in Montpellier-France. In addition, it establishes a joint research collaboration to develop a panel of delivery reagents optimized to transfer a wide variety of molecular cargoes into live cells. Under the terms of the agreement, Genospectra also retains exclusive, worldwide rights to the technology, and to market and sell products developed during the collaboration.
The agreement extends a two-year relationship between Genospectra and Dr. Divita of CNRS. An expert in molecular biophysics, Dr. Divita has used his research into the principles of mammalian viral infectiveness to develop a peptide-based nanoparticle system capable of efficient biomolecule delivery. Modifications to the peptide system enable specific cargoes—such as proteins, peptides, plasmids, nucleic acids or other molecules—to be selectively shuttled into live cells.
â??We are very pleased that Genospectra recently launched the first product in its Express Delivery reagent line based on our MPG technology. This product, Express-si Delivery, is ideal for transferring siRNA into primary cells and difficult-to-transfect cellsâ??, said Dr. Divita. â??Our MPG technology uniquely leverages the natural systems of the cell for biomolecule transfer, thereby solving the critical problems of cellular toxicity and endosomal capture that are associated with the common lipid-based delivery reagents.â??
Dr. Frank Witney, CEO of Genospectra added, â??The Express Delivery product line is both a landmark area for Genospectra and a important product line for our PQB strategy in cell-based assays. In fact, the whole field of cellular assays and biosensors is in urgent need of technologies to safely and effectively bring molecular cargoes into difficult-to-transfect cells, including primary cells. Itâ??s clear that we can significantly impact the understanding of molecular cell biology and pathway analysis with Express Delivery and other innovative technologies in our biosensor program to deliver, modulate, and quantify critical molecular reactions in live cells.â??
About Genospectra
Genospectra, Inc. is a privately-held life science company developing technologies and products for parallel quantitative biology (PQBâ?¢) for dynamic measurements of cellular biology. Genospectraâ??s PQB initiative is focused on creating novel cell-based assays and tools that enable multiplex measurements of molecular events, such as intracellular pathway analysis, in a quantitative and scalable manner. Genospectra has developed thousands of assays for the QuantiGene® Reagent System, which is powered by the proprietary branched-DNA technology for gene expression analysis in cell-based assays. This novel technology enables accurate and precise quantitation of RNA levels without RNA purification for biomarker analysis, RNA interference, microarray validation and predictive toxicology. The company's products are targeted to research cellular pathways, to dissect molecular models of human disease, and to discover the next generation of medicines. Genospectra is based in Fremont, California. For additional information, please visit the companyâ??s website at www.genospectra.com.
About CNRS
The French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) is a publicly-funded research organization that defines its mission as producing knowledge and making it available to society. CNRS has 26,000 employees (among which 11,600 researchers and 14,400 engineers and technical and administrative staff). Its budget amounts to 2.214 billion euros for the year 2004. The 1,260 CNRS service and research units are spread throughout the country and cover all fields of research.
â??The research focus on multifactorial diseases like cancer, and the ability to understand molecular or biomarker signatures are driving the need for multiplexed technologies that are cost-effective, reproducible, and can generate high quality data,â?? said Frank Witney, Ph.D., chief executive officer of Genospectra. â??QuantiGene Plexâ?? high reproducibility and ease-of-use make it the perfect product to fill the technology gap between studying many genes in a few samples, or studying few genes in a large number of samples.â?? QuantiGene Plex advances state-of-the-art gene expression analysis, by allowing researchers to accurately and precisely quantitate expression of multiple mRNA targets in a single well without the need for RNA purification, reverse transcription, or target amplification, and to be able to detect percent differences in expression, rather than fold differences measured by current technologies. Combining the patented bDNA signal-amplification technology and the robust xMAP technology, QuantiGene Plex provides more information while conserving precious samples and saves time, labor, reagent, and compound costs. Both QuantiGene and QuantiGene Plex provide accurate and precise quantitation of mRNA levels without the need for RNA purification, reverse transcription, or amplification making them valuable in biomarker analysis, RNA interference studies, microarray validation, and predictive toxicology. â??Our laboratory routinely uses the QuantiGene Reagent System, and now, with QuantiGene Plex, we achieve higher throughput and get more information by multiplexing,â?? said Song Lin, senior research specialist in the department of PKDM, Chiron Corporation, â??and, by quantitating mRNA directly from the sample, precision is high and sample preparation is minimized.â?? About Genospectra
Genospectra is a privately-held life science company focused on parallel quantitative biology (PQB) to develop novel cell-based assays and tools that enable the multiplex measurement of molecular events, such as intracellular pathway analysis, in a quantitative and scalable manner. Genospectra has grown rapidly on the merits of QuantiGene, its flagship product line powered by the proprietary bDNA technology for gene expression analysis in cell-based assays. Genospectra was founded in 2000 and is based in Fremont, CA. For further information, log on to www.genospectra.com. |
