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Biotech / Medical : GLGC Gene Logic -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Mike McFarland who wrote (69)	7/15/1999 7:08:00 AM
From: Mike McFarland	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 360

Ah--I just found my file full of GLGC reports from the brokerage houses, I will re-read those and the annual report and then ask a better question. Before I do that though, I woke up in the middle of the night with the second iteration of yesterday's question--here it is just for fun in case somebody shows up on the thread before I re-read my file: Which molecular movie would a molecular biologist rather have: The READS expression profiles from a hundred patients in different stages of a disease...or a hundred profiles from the same tumor (or better--from a single cell) as it undergoes it's various processes. I guess that is really what the flow through chip is for isn't it--to see gene expression as tissue is exposed to various compounds, or is the flow through chip mainly going to be used to build the toxicology database? I see from this year's annual report that one of the goals of Gene Logic is to begin using the Flow-Through chip--screening for leads. I think I asked this once before, but I will again: Where does Gene Logic get the library of compounds from which to find candidates? You know, I think I know what started this line of questioning: The Celera/RPR press release. Celera's GeneTag technology--any comments about that? It sounds a lot like what Gene Logic is trying to do with the flow through chip. ''It's a way of looking at all of the genes expressed in a biological system to see which ones are changing as part of a drug treatment, a disease state or a toxic response,'' Criss Walworth, a spokeswoman for Celera, said in a telephone interview.

To: Mike McFarland who wrote (69)	9/9/1999 2:26:00 PM
From: Steve Push	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 360

<<Another bionewbie question: Just how often during a disease process does a lab need to get tissue samples--say from cancer patients? Take RPR's Gencell /Introgen p53 gene therapy trial for instance (I assume you are still involved with that). My guess is that to build a useful gene expression database you would need samples of tumor at every stage of treatment--the molecular movie idea. It seems like this would be incredibly difficult, not only as far as all the lab work...but for the patients as well (sorry, a very unpleasant question, but are tumors continually, er, sampled?) Otherwise you would end up with a very choppy 'movie', just a few frames: Flash-- cancer inhibiting genes on, flash--they're off.>> That's a very perceptive observation. Yes, in many cases we will want to get samples at various stages of disease. And that is precisely what we are trying to do, especially with the GeneExpress(TM) databases. For example, we have already analyzed several samples from early- and late-stage Alzheimer's disease. However, even if we have samples for only one stage of a particular disease, those data may have value, especially if it is a rare sample or a critical stage of the disease. For example, a single expression profile representing an early stage of a disease could be useful in diagnosis. There is both a quantitative and a qualitative aspect. The more data we have, the better. But for any given number of samples, the database will be more valuable if we have chosen the right samples: i.e., the appropriate types of tissue, the major diseases, the appropriate stages in development of each disease. <<Is my conceptualization too primitive to really get a hold on what you fellas do? I have this sci-fi image of what gene expression databases look like--moving 3D topographic maps, maybe it was your own website that implanted that in my noggin, can't seem to shake the image.>> You should try to get the image out of your head. You will see that we recently took it off the Web site. It was a nice way to represent some data for explanatory purposes, but it doesn't reflect the way our bioinformatics analysts actually work. In about a month I hope to have some screen captures from our new GeneExpress product line to post on the Web. Those images will probably give you a better feel for the current state of our art. Steve Push Vice President, Corporate Communications Gene Logic Inc. Note: I participate occasionally on this message board as an official company spokesperson. Because of time constraints, however, I cannot respond to all questions. My failure to comment on or respond to someone else's message implies neither agreement nor disagreement with the information in that message. Past messages that I have posted may now contain out-of-date information. To be certain that you have the latest information about Gene Logic, please read recent press releases, SEC filings, and other documents available on our Web site (http://www.genelogic.com).