FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
BioSeek Demonstrates Use of its BioMAPTM
Technology to Rapidly Determine Functions of Genes in Complex
Biological Systems
- Results published in Proceedings
of the National Academy of Sciences -
Burlingame, CA - February 12, 2004 - BioSeek, Inc. today announced
publication in the peer-reviewed journal, Proceedings of the
National Academy of Sciences, of a study using the company's
BioMAPTM technology to define and characterize signaling networks
in human primary cells. BioSeek is applying the BioMAP technology
to characterize compounds in inflammation-related drug discovery
and development, and researchers in this study demonstrated that
it is also a powerful approach for revealing functional relationships
of proteins within signaling pathways and interactions between
different pathways.
The paper, "Method for analyzing signaling networks in complex
cellular systems," appears in Proceedings of the National Academy
of Sciences, February 3, 2004 (Vol. 101, no. 5, Pages 1223-1228).
Its authors include Ivan Plavec, Ph.D., BioSeek's senior director
of technology development, and BioSeek co-founders Ellen Berg,
Ph.D. and Eugene Butcher, M.D. The paper was communicated to
the journal by Leroy Hood, M.D., Ph.D., co-founder and president
of the Institute for Systems Biology.
To date, scientists attempting to assign function to human genes
have faced great difficulties in interpreting large volumes of
genomic and proteomic data, a key step in harnessing that data
to create new pharmaceuticals. BioSeek's Biologically Multiplexed
Activity Profiling (BioMAP) technology helps overcome these challenges
by integrating and simplifying systems biology. This approach
is based on the realization that the physiologic function of
a gene is best defined by its effects within multiple cell contexts.
The researchers at BioSeek found that, by overexpressing test
genes in vascular endothelial cells cultured under several different
conditions (in which different inflammatory pathways were activated),
they could capture a remarkable range of functions with a relatively
small number of protein measurements. Comparison of BioMAPs enabled
a rapid reconstruction of key pathway relationships of gene products,
correctly identifying genes involved in several known inflammatory
signaling pathways.
In the published study, the BioSeek team was able to detect novel
functional interrelationships between different signaling pathways,
as well as revealing additional effects of known genes and identifying
additional mediators of pathway interactions. For example, the
researchers revealed a dual function for the Interleukin-1 receptor-associated
gene MYD88 in simultaneously activating the NFKappaB pathway
and triggering a negative feedback inhibition of NFKappaB mediated
through the RAS/MAPK pathway.
"By providing key insights into functional relationships of genes
and of drug targets, BioMAP technology can rapidly model the
signaling networks operating in human cells," commented Eugene
Butcher, M.D., Professor of Pathology, Stanford University School
of Medicine and a co-founder of BioSeek. "The technology is accelerating
the systematic functional mapping of signaling pathways in diverse
human cells and disease relevant cell systems, providing a dramatically
improved biological basis for defining drug targets and prioritizing
drug candidates in discovery programs."
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 directly.
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