antiquity
07-30-2002, 05:44 AM
Lynx Announces Initiation of Stem Cell Expression Analysis Services For Cue Therapeutics
HAYWARD, Calif., July 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Lynx Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq:LYNX) announced today a service agreement with Cue Therapeutics to study stem cell gene expression. Lynx will receive payments for the genomics discovery services it performs on the human stem cell samples provided under this agreement. The resulting data should serve as the groundwork for a database of stem cell gene expression.
The agreement features the application of Lynx's Massively Parallel Signature Sequencing technology, or MPSS(TM), to uncover critical factors essential for maintenance of the undifferentiated state of human astrocyte precursors. Astrocytes are the star-shaped cells that make up the majority of grey matter in the brain. This project is expected to provide groundbreaking information about human stem cell biology. The study may be expanded to include other human stem cells.
Stem cells have the ability to divide for indefinite periods in tissue culture and, under the appropriate biological conditions, give rise to specialized cells. The genes that maintain the undifferentiated state and permit ongoing cell proliferation are expressed in stem cells. At the most fundamental level, stem cell research could help scientists understand the cascade of events that occur during the formation of specialized cells. Through elucidating the various molecular and cellular events in stem cell proliferation and differentiation, one can hope to develop novel approaches to prevention and treatment of many diseases, including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, spinal cord injury, stroke and heart disease.
"We believe that this is an opportunity to make a tremendous contribution to the understanding of stem cell biology," said Dr. Tom Vasicek, Vice President of Business Development at Lynx. "We believe that MPSS(TM) provides an unparalleled, high resolution view of what is going on inside the cell. As this project moves forward, we should be able to see a complete picture of the activity of every gene in these stem cells that are critically important in normal development and in disease."
"We are very pleased that Lynx will be applying its MPSS(TM) technology to analyze genes expressed in our astrocyte precursor cell lines," said Dennis Farrar, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cue. "This may enable us to identify novel inductive factors for mobilizing endogenous stem cells to proliferate and regenerate tissue damaged by various demyelinating and neurodegenerative disorders."
"We believe that our MPSS(TM) technology is uniquely positioned to make a significant contribution in the area of stem cell research," said Corcoran, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lynx. "We expect that work on human stem cells with MPSS(TM) will be a catalyst for the growth of a significant body of biological information critical for emerging programs in systems biology."
About Cue
Cue is a Salt Lake City-based company recently organized to develop therapeutic stem cell products for the treatment of major central nervous system disorders. It plans to utilize its patented glial progenitor cell technology to focus on glial-mediated disease targets. Glial progenitors differentiate into astrocyte and oligodendrocyte subtypes, the loss of which plays a primary role in demyelinating disorders such as multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury and subcortical stroke. Glial dysfunction is also a major factor in certain neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and lysosomal storage disorders.
Cue's approaches to treatment include (1) cell-based protein delivery, where glial progenitors are genetically encoded to express therapeutic proteins and delivered to disease sites, (2) endogenous induction, where growth factors signal stem cells residing quiescent in the brain to multiply, migrate appropriately and regenerate damaged tissue and (3) cell replacement, where progenitor cells are transplanted to replace injured cells.
About Lynx
Lynx is a leader in the development and application of novel technologies for the discovery of gene expression patterns important to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and agricultural industries. These technologies are based on the Megaclone(TM) technology, Lynx's unique and proprietary cloning procedure, which transforms a sample containing millions of DNA molecules into one made up of millions of micro-beads, each of which carries approximately 100,000 copies of one of the DNA molecules in the sample. Megaclone(TM) technology and MPSS(TM) technology together provide comprehensive and quantitative digital gene expression data important to modern systems biology research. Lynx is also developing a proteomics technology, Protein ProFiler(TM), an automated two-dimensional liquid-based electrophoresis system that is expected to permit high-resolution analysis of complex mixtures of proteins from cells or tissues. For more information, visit Lynx's web site at www.lynxgen.com (http://www.lynxgen.com).
This press release contains "forward-looking" statements, including statements related to the identification of differentially expressed genes and the potential success of collaboration arrangements, the addition of new collaborations and agreements, Lynx's performance of its genomics discovery services for current and future customers and collaborators and the expansion of Lynx's commercial applications of its technologies. Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "predicts," "expects," "estimates," "intends," "will," "continue," "may," "potential," "should," "confident" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause the results of Lynx to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including, among others, risks detailed from time to time in Lynx's SEC reports, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001. Lynx does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.
HAYWARD, Calif., July 30 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Lynx Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq:LYNX) announced today a service agreement with Cue Therapeutics to study stem cell gene expression. Lynx will receive payments for the genomics discovery services it performs on the human stem cell samples provided under this agreement. The resulting data should serve as the groundwork for a database of stem cell gene expression.
The agreement features the application of Lynx's Massively Parallel Signature Sequencing technology, or MPSS(TM), to uncover critical factors essential for maintenance of the undifferentiated state of human astrocyte precursors. Astrocytes are the star-shaped cells that make up the majority of grey matter in the brain. This project is expected to provide groundbreaking information about human stem cell biology. The study may be expanded to include other human stem cells.
Stem cells have the ability to divide for indefinite periods in tissue culture and, under the appropriate biological conditions, give rise to specialized cells. The genes that maintain the undifferentiated state and permit ongoing cell proliferation are expressed in stem cells. At the most fundamental level, stem cell research could help scientists understand the cascade of events that occur during the formation of specialized cells. Through elucidating the various molecular and cellular events in stem cell proliferation and differentiation, one can hope to develop novel approaches to prevention and treatment of many diseases, including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases, spinal cord injury, stroke and heart disease.
"We believe that this is an opportunity to make a tremendous contribution to the understanding of stem cell biology," said Dr. Tom Vasicek, Vice President of Business Development at Lynx. "We believe that MPSS(TM) provides an unparalleled, high resolution view of what is going on inside the cell. As this project moves forward, we should be able to see a complete picture of the activity of every gene in these stem cells that are critically important in normal development and in disease."
"We are very pleased that Lynx will be applying its MPSS(TM) technology to analyze genes expressed in our astrocyte precursor cell lines," said Dennis Farrar, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cue. "This may enable us to identify novel inductive factors for mobilizing endogenous stem cells to proliferate and regenerate tissue damaged by various demyelinating and neurodegenerative disorders."
"We believe that our MPSS(TM) technology is uniquely positioned to make a significant contribution in the area of stem cell research," said Corcoran, President and Chief Executive Officer of Lynx. "We expect that work on human stem cells with MPSS(TM) will be a catalyst for the growth of a significant body of biological information critical for emerging programs in systems biology."
About Cue
Cue is a Salt Lake City-based company recently organized to develop therapeutic stem cell products for the treatment of major central nervous system disorders. It plans to utilize its patented glial progenitor cell technology to focus on glial-mediated disease targets. Glial progenitors differentiate into astrocyte and oligodendrocyte subtypes, the loss of which plays a primary role in demyelinating disorders such as multiple sclerosis, spinal cord injury and subcortical stroke. Glial dysfunction is also a major factor in certain neurodegenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and lysosomal storage disorders.
Cue's approaches to treatment include (1) cell-based protein delivery, where glial progenitors are genetically encoded to express therapeutic proteins and delivered to disease sites, (2) endogenous induction, where growth factors signal stem cells residing quiescent in the brain to multiply, migrate appropriately and regenerate damaged tissue and (3) cell replacement, where progenitor cells are transplanted to replace injured cells.
About Lynx
Lynx is a leader in the development and application of novel technologies for the discovery of gene expression patterns important to the pharmaceutical, biotechnology and agricultural industries. These technologies are based on the Megaclone(TM) technology, Lynx's unique and proprietary cloning procedure, which transforms a sample containing millions of DNA molecules into one made up of millions of micro-beads, each of which carries approximately 100,000 copies of one of the DNA molecules in the sample. Megaclone(TM) technology and MPSS(TM) technology together provide comprehensive and quantitative digital gene expression data important to modern systems biology research. Lynx is also developing a proteomics technology, Protein ProFiler(TM), an automated two-dimensional liquid-based electrophoresis system that is expected to permit high-resolution analysis of complex mixtures of proteins from cells or tissues. For more information, visit Lynx's web site at www.lynxgen.com (http://www.lynxgen.com).
This press release contains "forward-looking" statements, including statements related to the identification of differentially expressed genes and the potential success of collaboration arrangements, the addition of new collaborations and agreements, Lynx's performance of its genomics discovery services for current and future customers and collaborators and the expansion of Lynx's commercial applications of its technologies. Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "predicts," "expects," "estimates," "intends," "will," "continue," "may," "potential," "should," "confident" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. There are a number of important factors that could cause the results of Lynx to differ materially from those indicated by these forward-looking statements, including, among others, risks detailed from time to time in Lynx's SEC reports, including its Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2001. Lynx does not undertake any obligation to update forward-looking statements.