PALO ALTO, Calif. & MONTHEY, Switzerland--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 30, 2003--Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A - News) and DiagnoSwiss today announced a collaboration to jointly develop Off-Gel electrophoresis technology, currently conceptual, into a new proteomics research tool for studying the molecular basis of disease and identifying novel drug therapies.
"Biological samples often contain up to 30,000 different proteins," said Gerard Rozing, Ph.D., a senior scientist at Agilent. "In order to allow researchers to focus on the few critical proteins involved in a specific disease, simple and fast `filtering' procedures are required. We are confident that Off-Gel electrophoresis will develop into an essential, indispensable tool for proteomics research."
Off-Gel electrophoresis enables the micro-scale separation of proteins and peptides in complex mixtures according to their isoelectric points, grouping them by their common electrical properties. In contrast to conventional gel electrophoresis, the proteins or peptides are recovered in a free solution and in higher concentration than originally applied. The technology is expected to form a valuable solution for high-performance protein fractionation and purification.
"This unique system can be easily combined with other separation methods such as 2-D gel electrophoresis or LC/MS and will eventually allow for automated multi-dimensional separations of complex protein mixtures," said Frederic Reymond, Ph.D, general manager of DiagnoSwiss. "We look forward to collaborating with Agilent on the commercialization of this technology to create a high-performance, easy-to-use system for protein research."
About DiagnoSwiss
DiagnoSwiss S.A. is a life science company committed to the development and commercialization of advanced biochips for life science applications. The company's current main focus is on mass produced polymer microchips with integrated microelectrodes. These microsystems have been developed for fast and high-performance immunological tests in a portable and high-throughput format as well as for electrospray mass spectrometry. DiagnoSwiss headquarters are in Monthey, Switzerland, and information about DiagnoSwiss is available on the Web at www.diagnoswiss.com.
About Agilent Technologies
Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE:A - News) is a global technology leader in communications, electronics and life sciences. The company's 36,000 employees serve customers in more than 110 countries. Agilent had net revenue of $6 billion in fiscal year 2002. Information about Agilent is available on the Web at www.agilent.com.
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