In a message on Sept 24th, Mike McFarland quoted a Hyseq claim:
"The Company believes that its proprietary HyGenomics
Database of partial human gene sequences is the largest
such database in the world."
If that is true, then it is extremely surprising (and a bit suspicious)
that this company -- a "leader" in the genomics field -- did not make
any appearance at the 10th International Genome Sequencing &
Analysis Conference (GSAC-X) in Miami Beach last week. I saw no
plenary speakers from Hyseq. I saw no posters from Hyseq
scientists. I saw no company exhibit from Hyseq. And I ran into no
conference-attendees from Hyseq.
In contrast, most other players in the 'bioinformatics-from-arrays'
game *were* there, some in a BIG way: Affymetrix (GeneChip),
Incyte (GEM), Molecular Dynamics (an array system under
'technology access' to AFFX), Hewlett-Packard (Mirzabekov's
"MicroGel" technology), plus a handful of other new starters in
the race, including Genetic MicroSystems (probe-thru-a-hoop
spotting) and GeneMachines (OmniGrid). And that's just a list
of the genomic-array entities: there were a very large number of
commercial sequence-database presenters there, among which
Hyseq should have fit in.
Besides Hyseq, the other notable absence from the field at
GSAC-X was Nanogen. If anyone from either of these two
companies could please explain why these companies passed
up the golden opportunity to present and/or exhibit their wares
at this premier genome conference, I would (and I'm sure that
Hyseq shareholders would) certainly like to know. Thank you.
Inquisitively yours,
Doctor Goodhybe |
