SAN DIEGO, April 11 /PRNewswire/ -- Invitrogen Corporation (Nasdaq: IVGN - news) today announced the availability of a reagent kit to facilitate the use of Genzyme Molecular Oncology's SAGE(TM) (Serial Analysis of Gene Expression) technology, a novel method that allows a scientist to conduct efficient and comprehensive quantitative analyses of all expressed genes in a tissue or cell line. The development of Invitrogen's I-SAGE(TM) research reagent kit is expected to significantly increase commercial and academic researchers' accessibility to this technology.
Unlike other expression profiling technologies such as microarrays, SAGE is an open system that does not rely on a predetermined collection of genes. It can be used in a wide variety of applications such as identifying disease-related genes, analyzing the effects of drugs on tissues, and providing insight into disease pathways. Since its introduction, SAGE has been used extensively by numerous academic laboratories and commercial licensees of SAGE as well as by Genzyme Molecular Oncology, in both its internal research programs and on behalf of service customers.
``SAGE technology is a highly-sensitive tool for genome-wide expression profiling,'' remarked Lyle Turner, Invitrogen's Chairman and CEO. ``By providing the SAGE technology in our pre-optimized I-SAGE Kit, Invitrogen will make this powerful but complex technology available to academic and commercial researchers in a convenient form.''
``Our I-SAGE Kit is a good example of how Invitrogen's products lower the technical hurdle associated with complex technologies and processes that are used in genetic research. By introducing I-SAGE, we expect the SAGE technology to become more widely adopted,'' added Mr. Turner. SAGE users will also be able to access the growing public database of SAGE information as well as make comparisons with Genzyme Molecular Oncology's proprietary SAGE data, which is currently available on Compugen's LabOnWeb Internet site, and which will soon be available from Celera Genomics.
Gail Maderis, President of Genzyme Molecular Oncology commented, ``We are very pleased to be working with Invitrogen to expand the market for SAGE technology. We expect that the convenience and wide availability of the I-SAGE kit will broaden our potential license base for SAGE.''
Invitrogen's I-SAGE Kit can be used in a wide variety of applications such as gene discovery, identifying disease-related genes, analyzing the effects of drugs on tissues, and providing insight into disease pathways. Expression profiles generated by SAGE are highly quantitative and extremely sensitive for low abundance genes, often resulting in the identification of novel genes. This makes SAGE a complementary technology for DNA microarray users, helping them to identify relevant genes to be arrayed. Since 1997, more than 50 publications involving SAGE have been published in leading scientific journals. Recently, a public gene expression database repository for SAGE data (SAGEmap) was produced through the National Institute of Health's Cancer Genome Anatomy Project (CGAP) and is now capable of accepting submissions of SAGE sequence data from any source. This database currently contains over 3.9 million SAGE data points and is likely to become an important reference database for gene expression analysis, facilitating discovery of novel cancer-related genes.
Commenting on Invitrogen's business arrangements for I-SAGE Kit, Mr. Turner stated, ``In October 2000, Invitrogen executed an exclusive worldwide license from Genzyme Molecular Oncology to sell the SAGE technology in standardized reagent kits, and in less than 6 months, we released this new product. Our success in developing the I-SAGE Kit is representative of our successful business strategy of licensing technologies from third parties and developing convenient laboratory products that bring those technologies into widespread use. We are extremely pleased to be working with Genzyme to provide customers with quality products for molecular biology, gene discovery and functional genomics research.''... |
