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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact:
Jim Parina
724-935-7029
jparina@expressionanalysis.com
Expression Analysis Announces Collaborative Services Agreement with Duke University Medical Center
Durham, N.C. (March 7, 2002)- Expression Analysis (EA), a new Durham-based biotechnology company that uses a sophisticated gene analysis technology to support genomics research, has entered into a collaborative services agreement with Duke University Medical Center.
Through this agreement, Duke has chosen EA to be its primary service provider for Affymetrix GeneChips® processing, a state-of-the art microarray (DNA chip) technology that is rapidly advancing the way genetic researchers study disease states, identify drug targets and profile changes within genes. EA will provide target probe development, hybridization and processing of Duke-supplied RNA samples and Affymetrix products through the EA Institute, LLC, a division of EA set up exclusively for Duke. Holly Dressman, Ph.D., director of the Microarray Facility at Duke University Medical Center, is overseeing the collaboration between Duke and the EA Institute.
"Our agreement with Duke establishes an important relationship with one of the nation's top universities," said Steve Casey, EA's chief operating officer and formerly a Howard Hughes Medical Institute administrator located at Duke. "Microarray technology-with Affymetrix leading the field-is rapidly growing in its versatility and use by pharmaceuticals, health companies, and food and nutrition companies. As companies look to the bottom line, they will recognize the advantage of outsourcing their microarray laboratory and statistical analysis work to specialty companies such as Expression Analysis. Duke is among the first to recognize and take advantage of this opportunity."
EA is being incubated by Analytical Sciences, Inc. (ASI), a private, Durham-based contract research organization focused on enhancing human health through innovative science, technology and knowledge solutions. ASI President and CEO Donald A. Holzworth, now doubling as the CEO of EA, was a key agent in recognizing this business opportunity and arranging the funding.
Three Duke researchers are members of EA's Scientific Advisory Board: Dr. Joseph Nevins, chairman of Department of Genetics at Duke and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator; Dr. Mike West, director of Duke's Institute of Statistics and Decision Sciences; and Dr. Larry Katz, professor of neurobiology and also a Howard Hughes investigator. Rounding out the company's SAB is Dr. Wing H. Wong, professor of statistics and professor of computational biology at Harvard University.
Casey said the development of EA has allowed Duke to reduce some of the overhead of operating its own core facility and to take advantage of the economies of scale associated with outsourcing. Moreover, he expects that enhanced analysis services, to be developed by EA, will be a significant resource for Duke scientists. In addition to Duke, the company's growing list of clients includes the National Institute of Health and several educational institutions and commercial biotechnology corporations.
Dr. Laura Reid, director of genomic sciences for EA, has been named project director for the collaborative agreement with Duke. She is the former director of the Genomics Core & Microarray Facility at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill.
EA is located in Meridian Business Park. Its staff of five employees occupies about 2,700 square feet of space in ASI's headquarters, now under expansion to meet EA's growing needs.
"Our arrangement with ASI is helping us minimize our start-up costs, while at the same time, maximizing our access to a strong management, financial and administrative infrastructure," said Casey. "Our interface with ASI is one of both collaboration and incubation. As more and more research institutions embrace this technology, we hope to collaborate with ASI on EA's bioinformatics initiatives. The synergy created between EA's 'lab' capabilities and ASI's statistical research capabilities is very beneficial."
EA is quickly developing into one of the few U.S.-based authorized service providers for Affymetrix (http://www.affymetrix.com), a California-based company that develops and commercializes systems to help researchers explore the relationship between genes and human health. Affymetrix' advanced genomic tools apply the principles of semiconductor technology to the life sciences, making complicated tests quicker to conduct and the results more reliable.
"All of EA's competitors are small, unfocused and often tied too closely to academics," said Holzworth, who raised the initial capital to launch EA earlier this year through acquaintances and professional relationships with several angel investors. "EA, on the other hand, is focused solely on the Affymetrix GeneChip platform and on providing quality services. As a result, we believe that EA will rapidly emerge as the primary source for academic, commercial and government investigators world-wide, who are taking advantage of this technology."
EA officials say the company seeks to offer a low-cost alternative to researchers, companies and institutions that want this technology but do not have access to it or cannot afford the instruments needed. While the technology has been available for years, its use has been limited primarily to larger corporations or financially assisted academic institutes.
Previous research required looking at one gene at a time to see how it reacts to a specific stimulus, resulting in a long and tedious process. Affymetrix® GeneChips have tens of thousands of known genes on them (the "chip" is about the size of a postage stamp). As a result, this microarray technology allows researchers to see how as many as 30,000 genes react to a certain stimuli. One test takes just two days to run.
Microarray technology has dramatically reduced the amount of lab work required to test the expression of genes in response to various stimuli. On the downside, it generates vast amounts of data that require statistical interpretation. EA's advantage is that it runs samples and analyzes data, thereby freeing scientists to focus on the results of their expression studies, rather than on the process of data generation and statistical compilation.
About Expression Analysis
Expression Analysis, Inc., (EA) (www.expressionanalysis.com) is a full-service microarray genomics testing and analysis organization dedicated to providing clients with the highest quality genomic processing and data analysis services using Affymetrix GeneChip® brand technology. In 2004, EA became the first microarray services facility, worldwide, to provide GLP-compliant services. EA is a U.S.-based authorized service provider for Affymetrix (www.affymetrix.com), a California-based company that develops and commercializes systems to help researchers explore the relationship between genes and human health.
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