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"We hope this collaboration will better help us to understand the diseaseand potential therapies at the molecular level," said Robert J. Beall, Ph.D.,president and CEO of the Foundation. "Using computational platforms adds toour arsenal of already existing strategies."
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The new platform, called MetaMiner (CF), will include off-the-shelf GeneGoproducts such as MetaCore, MetaDrug, MetaLink and MapEditor. Platforms such asMetaDrug can help to solve various problems including a drug's mechanism ofaction, toxicity and off-target effects, deduced from the structure and anykind of supplementary omics data. The product is intended to be used bymedicinal chemists and biologists active in pre-clinical areas of high contentand high throughput screening, bioassays, hit-to-lead. MetaMiner (CF) willinclude cystic fibrosis-specific OMICs and small experiments content annotatedby GeneGo, disease maps and networks.
"We are very pleased to work with Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and theacademic community which is very well organized and successful in research anddrug discovery for the disease. We have a clear direction and end goals thatwe are focused on," said Julie Bryant, GeneGo's vice president of businessdevelopment. "This collaboration is the first in the series ofdisease-centered MetaMiner projects which integrate our existing data analysistools, OMICs data warehousing and disease-specific knowledge base. We have adedicated group of Ph.D. and M.D. scientists to work on this project."
The project will be guided by a Cystic Fibrosis Foundation committee witha goal to leverage systems biology technology and accumulated data to advancedrug discovery for this disease. MetaMiner (CF) is expected to be available byFebruary of 2008 to cystic fibrosis academic researchers and drug developmentcollaborators through access licenses.
Cystic fibrosis is a genetic disease that affects about 30,000 adults andchildren in the United States. It causes life-threatening lung infections andserious digestive complications. More than 10 million Americans aresymptomless carriers of the CF gene.
About GeneGo
GeneGo develops systems biology technology for life science research. Theoriginal computational MetaDiscovery(TM) platform allows an integration andexpert analysis of different kinds of experimental data (mRNA expression,proteomics, metabolomics, microRNA assays and other phenotypic data) andrelevant bioactive chemistry (metabolites, drugs, other xenobiotics) withinthe framework of curated biological pathways and networks. GeneGo's flagshipproduct, MetaCore 5.0(TM), assists pharmaceutical scientists in the areas oftarget selection and validation, identification of biomarkers for diseasestates and toxicology. The second product, MetaDrug2.0(TM) is designed forprediction of human metabolism, toxicity and biological effects for novelsmall molecules compounds. MetaBase(TM) represents the knowledge base forMetaCore. For more information, please visit the company's web site athttp://www.genego.com. MetaCore(TM), MetaBase(TM), MetaDrug(TM), MetaLink(TM),MetaDiscovery(TM), MetaTox(TM), MetaMiner(TM) and 1-2-3 Workflow(TM) aretrademarks of GeneGo, Inc.
About the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation
The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation is the leading organization devoted tocuring and controlling cystic fibrosis. Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., theFoundation funds CF research, has 80 chapter and branch offices throughout thecountry, and supports and accredits a nationwide network of 11
