Woburn, MA, February 14, 2001
AlphaGene, Inc. announced today that it has achieved
a significant milestone by constructing an inventory
of 500 million human cDNA clones. Based upon
AlphaGene's calculations, it is estimated that this
inventory represents a highly significant percentage
of the human genome.
AlphaGene's inventory of primarily full-length
clones, when compared to the public databases, has
been found to contain rare and unusual genes not
found by the public human genomic effort. This novel
library has been produced by the construction of 200
cDNA libraries from fetal, adult, diseased and
normal tissues. Approximately 55% of the inventory
comes from neural tissue, such as the brain, and the
remainder from 20 other human tissues, including the
heart, kidney, liver, lung and skin.
"This milestone of 500 million cDNA clones
represents incredible potential for the drug
discovery process, and far surpasses our original
goal." said Donald J. McCarren, Ph.D.,
President and CEO of AlphaGene. "We are
currently in the process of seeking the right
partners to help us begin mining this enormous
genetic inventory."
AlphaGene's library of 280,000 partially sequenced
clones represents more than the 30,000 human genes
as reported by the public effort. Approximately 45
percent of this inventory, when compared with the
public databases, consists of full-length genes.
Using its patented core technology - FLEX(TM)
(full-length expressed genes) - AlphaGene can
rapidly analyze full-length expressed genes that are
necessary to enable high-throughput protein
discovery and maximize the functional information
extracted from novel disease-related genes.
"Although we have mined less than one percent
of our inventory, we have already discovered it
contains almost twice as many genes previously
reported for Chromosomes 21 and 22," said Peter
A. Schad, Ph.D., AlphaGene's Vice President and
Chief Scientific Officer. "Coupled with the
fact that we have found two novel genes related to
Alzheimer's disease, we feel that we have only
scratched the surface of our inventory's full
potential for a genome-based drug discovery
platform."
The AlphaGene inventory is constructed from primary
non-amplified, cDNA libraries that result in clones
that are not biased by PCR or by initial
amplification in E.coli. Since these expressed cDNAs
in the AlphaGene inventory are from polyA containing
sequences, there appears to be a significant number
of expressed genes not found by the public human
genome effort.
About AlphaGene, Inc.
AlphaGene, Inc. (http://www.alphagene.com)
is a privately held functional genomics company
offering products and services to biotech and
pharmaceutical companies engaged in drug discovery and
development. AlphaGene uses its large inventory of
full-length cDNAs and Bioinformatics expertise to
bridge the gap between genomics and functional
proteomics. The company focuses on differential gene
expression in degenerative neurological diseases
including Parkinson's and Alzheimer's
Diseases.
