LION adds to its platform, completes licensing deal
By LUDGER WESS
Healthcare InfoTech Correspondent
HAMBURG, Germany LION Bioscience AG (Heidelberg, Germany) added another tool to its bioinformatics portfolio as it signed an agreement to purchase the genetic data analysis system GeneMatcher from Paracel (Pasadena, CA).
In addition, LION entered into a three-year licensing agreement with Pharmacia & Upjohn (Bridgewater, NJ) for the use of LION’s bioinformatics system, bioScout.
With bioScout, LION has developed a toolbox that enables researchers to screen large volumes of sequence and literature data for genes of interest. The software includes a component that retrieves predefined se quence, structure, and literature data from a wide range of web-accessible databases and updates them daily. As an additional feature, it is able to search for sequence homology, to predict 3-dimensional structures of proteins, and to perform function analysis of protein families.
A number of genomic and pharmaceutical companies already have obtained licenses from LION. Pharmacia & Upjohn will install the software at its Sweden-based research site and make it accessible to its other research sites as well.
The GeneMatcher purchase added more search and comparison features. GeneMatcher is a massively parallel genomic data analysis engine. It consists of several units each containing more than 6,000 custom processors, which can execute a vast range of dynamic programming algorithms to search for homology in gene sequences.
"With GeneMatcher, we are able to add an essential component of a high-throughput alert system for identifying novel target genes to our genetic sequence characterization tools," said Claus Kremoser, vice president of corporate development at LION. "The new technology will allow users of our bioScout and SRS Life Science Informatics system to search public and proprietary databases for genes of interested with unparalleled speed and accuracy on a daily basis."
You have reached your article limit for the month. Subscribe now to access this article plus other member-only content.
- Award-winning Medical Content
- Latest Advances & Development in Medicine
- Unbiased Content