Back FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE BioSeek, Inc. Receives Phase II NIH Grant To Fund Development Of High-Throughput Human Cell Systems For Compound Screening BURLINGAME, Calif., June 10 /PRNewswire/ -- BioSeek, Inc. announced today that the company has been awarded a two-year Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant will support the expansion of BioSeek's Biological Multiplexed Activity Profiling (BioMAP(TM)) technology for compound validation and prioritization in human primary cell-based inflammatory disease models. "We are excited that the NIH has recognized the practical value of BioSeek's unique approach to systems biology," commented Dr. Eugene Butcher, Professor, Department of Pathology, Stanford University, a consultant on the project and chair of BioSeek's Scientific Advisory Board, "This quantitative approach will provide enormous benefit throughout the drug discovery process, from target validation and compound selection to clinical indication selection and trial design." Advances in genomics, combinatorial chemistry and high throughput screening have increased the need for rapid and biologically relevant methods to validate and prioritize lead compounds for new medicine development. BioSeek's BioMAP systems incorporate primary human cells in complex activated states, relevant to human disease biology. The technology harnesses the informational content and processing power of primary human cell systems, in high throughput formats, and enables BioSeek to test the effects of compoundsand genes on human cell function, disease mechanisms and potential toxicity at early stages in the discovery process. With support from the NIH grant, BioSeek will expand its database of drug activity profiles in BioMAP systemsfor inflammation to improve the selection of drug candidates, and the ability to predict drug behavior in humans. BioMAP technology will be applied in the granted study to develop a database of biological function profiles of a large number of approved and experimental compounds. About BioMAP The BioMAP platform comprises primary human cell-based disease models forinflammatory and autoimmune disease, cardiovascular disease and cancer. Combinations of primary human cells are assayed in proprietary formats with multiple disease-associated regulatory pathways activated in concert. BioMAP model systems are designed to reflect human disease pathology and are validated for their ability to detect and distinguish the effects of approved and investigational human therapeutics. Applications for BioMAP technology have been demonstrated for: selection and prioritization of drug leads; compound mechanism of action; side effect profiling; and surrogate marker identification. About BioSeek BioSeek, the human systems biology company, is transforming and accelerating the drug discovery process by applying its proprietary high-throughput human disease systems to identify and characterize potential new pharmaceutical products. The Company's core technology addresses the central challenge of postgenomic drug discovery: the need to integrate biology and biological function analyses into the drug development process. BioSeek's unique human biosystems approach allows the Company to identify and prioritize the most promising genomic targets and drug candidates very early in the drug discovery process. For more information, please e-mail BioSeek, Inc. at info@bioseekinc.com About BioSeek BioSeek, the human systems biology company, is transforming and accelerating the drug discovery process by applying its proprietary high-throughput human disease systems to identify and characterize potential new pharmaceutical products. The Company's core technology addresses the central challenge of postgenomic drug discovery: the need to integrate biology and biological function analyses into the drug development process. BioSeek's unique biosystems approach allows the Company to identify the most promising genomic targets, and to efficiently prioritize drug candidates generated in conventional high throughput screening or natural product screens. For more information, please e-mail BioSeek directly.