HAYWARD, Calif., Feb. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Zyomyx, Inc., a leader in protein biochip technologies, today announced the launch of the company's Protein Profiling Biochip System, and the first of the company's protein profiling biochips, the Zyomyx Human Cytokine Biochip. The Protein Profiling Biochip System represents the first truly integrated, ready-to-use multiplexed protein analysis technology to be commercialized for research use. Consisting of validated biochips, an Assay 1200(TM) automated workstation, the Scanner 100(TM) biochip reader and data analysis software, the platform allows academic, biotechnology and pharmaceutical researchers to conduct parallel protein assays for drug discovery, including biomarker identification and target validation.
"The launch of our Protein Profiling Biochip System and the Human Cytokine Biochip provide researchers with the first fully-automated multiplexed system for accurate, simultaneous protein analysis," said Lawrence Cohen, Ph.D., Zyomyx president and chief executive officer. "The multianalyte capabilities of the system, combined with our validated cytokine biochips, will accelerate the pace of current proteomic research applications, allowing researchers to generate data previously unobtainable."
The Human Cytokine Biochip contains thirty biologically relevant cytokines, enabling the comprehensive analysis of these important mediators of inflammatory and autoimmune disease. The Zyomyx Human Cytokine Biochip is the first in a series of protein profiling biochips designed by Zyomyx to enable highly sensitive, multiplex protein expression profiling. The company's biochips can be used to evaluate a wide variety of sample agents, ranging from synovial fluid and cell lysates to serum and plasma. Notably, Zyomyx biochips require significantly less sample volumes than conventional technologies to generate robust results.
"Comprehensive analysis of protein expression can provide researchers with the insights necessary to understand the molecular basis of disease -- including disease susceptibility, diagnosis, disease progression and potential points of therapeutic interference and response to treatment," explained Peter Wagner, Ph.D., Senior Vice President, Chief Technology Officer and a Zyomyx founder. "This is the direction of medicine and treatment in the future. We have designed the Protein Profiling Biochip System and our biochips to meet the needs of researchers and to support the breakthrough discoveries of our customers using this revolutionary platform."
High-Profile Pharmaceutical and Academic Researchers Opt For Early Access Program
The Protein Profiling Biochip System is already being used at top pharmaceutical and academic research institutes, including Boston, Massachusetts-based Partners HeathCare and GlaxoSmithKline.
"The Harvard Partners Genome Center is pleased to have been among the first groups granted access to the Zyomyx system for our proteomic research efforts," said George Grills, Director of the Protein Microarrays Facility at the Harvard Partners Genome Center. "The qualitative and quantitative high throughput capability of this technology is a promising new paradigm for proteomics research."
Zyomyx is producing commercial quantities of its Protein Profiling Biochip System and Human Cytokine Biochips within a Class 10,000 clean room at the company's Hayward, California facility on an industrial scale. The company is continuing to develop additional biochips and biochip support technologies for future rollout.
Zyomyx will be showcasing the company's Protein Profiling Biochip System at the upcoming Association of Biomedical Research Forum, February 10-13 being held in Denver, Colorado. Speakers from Zyomyx will be Hans Beernink, Ph.D., scientist, participating in a round table discussion on "Quantitative Protein Profiling," on Tuesday, February 11 and Ming Tan, Ph.D., scientist, in a presentation entitled "Development and Application of Human Cytokine Microarrays for Quantitative Biology" on Thursday, February 13. Conference attendees are invited to drop by the Zyomyx exhibit booth #115.
Enabling a New Era of Proteomic Research
Until recently, the productivity of research was limited by tools that could examine a small fraction of the proteins present in a sample at one time. Zyomyx' multiplexed, high-throughput system lifts the constraints on protein analysis, allowing scientists to engage in more productive and cost-effective protein research. The Protein Profiling Biochip System and Human Cytokine Biochips enable researchers to profile the expression of 30 cytokines in human serum samples simultaneously. The applications for the technology extend throughout the drug discovery and development process, including validation of therapeutic targets and biomarkers, selection of drug candidates and evaluation of effects of drugs in pre-clinical and clinical studies.
About Zyomyx
Zyomyx is an innovator in the application of biological, biochemical and material science technologies to protein analysis platforms. The company's initial product offering, the Zyomyx Protein Profiling Biochip System significantly advances the field of protein analysis by providing the first, ready-to-use, automated and validated multiplexed platform for protein profiling. Zyomyx is privately held company based in Hayward, California.
For more information about Zyomyx, please visit the company's website at www.zyomyx.c |
