Tuesday February 8, 4:15 pm Eastern Time
Company Press Release
Columbia University and Virginia Commonwealth University Release Favorable Results from LJL's SNP Platform
LJL's Genomics Science Group Presents at G2K Conference
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 8, 2000--LJL BioSystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:LJLB - news) today presented results from two Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) genotyping studies performed at Columbia University (New York, NY) and Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU - Richmond, VA) at the G2K - Advances in Genome Biology and Technology Conference (G2K). Both studies were conducted using LJL's High Efficiency Fluorescence Polarization (HEFP-SNP(TM)) platform and both demonstrated high degrees of accuracy.
Dr. James Knowles, one of the co-authors of the Columbia University data, performed a study of a SNP in the promoter of the cholecystokinin (CCK) gene, a gene implicated in Panic Disorder diseases. Dr. Knowles genotyped 246 individuals in families with Panic Disorder. All families showed the expected inheritance patterns. Dr. Knowles said that, ``the inherent simplicity of the homogeneous HEFP(TM) method combined with its cost-efficiency were the factors that first attracted our attention to LJL's platform. We achieved both impressive accuracy and a high rate of genotyping within weeks.'
Dr. Richard Straub, Director of the Molecular Genetics Laboratory at VCU is using the LJL HEFP platform in the hunt for schizophrenia genes on chromosomes 5 and 6. For these linkage disequilibrium studies, novel SNPs are being generated by DNA sequencing, and then over 1400 individuals from high-density schizophrenia families are genotyped. Dr. Straub stated, ``We are very pleased - the method is inexpensive, robust, capable of automation, and potentially quite high throughput. Based on confirmation of over 200 genotypes from six different SNPs by direct sequencing, we have estimated the accuracy to be about 99.5%. With a bit more effort towards optimization, we would hope that this
figure will improve considerably.'
Data from the Columbia and VCU studies were presented by Dr. Enal Razvi, Director of Business Development at LJL. The G2K is a prestigious conference that features participants and speakers from leading academic institutions and genomics companies around the world.
The website for the G2K conference is www.gcorp.org. |
