Woburn, MA, May 29, 2001
AlphaGene Inc. is pleased to announce that Dr.
Robert H. Brown, Jr., M.D., D.Phil., has agreed to
join the Company's Scientific Advisory Board. Dr.
Brown is Professor of Neurology at Harvard Medical
School and Director of the Day Neuromuscular
Research Laboratory at Massachusetts General
Hospital, Boston, MA. He is renowned for his work on
the inherited basis of neurodegenerative and
neuromuscular diseases and has a record of
significant discoveries in Amyotrophic Lateral
Sclerosis (ALS, Lou Gehrig's disease) and
neuromuscular disorders, like hyperkalemic periodic
paralysis and some types of muscular dystrophy. In
1993, Dr. Brown and colleagues defined mutations in
the gene encoding SOD1 as one cause of familial ALS.
AlphaGene is collaborating with Dr. Brown to find
novel genes in a locus for a recessive form of
familial ALS. "I am very pleased that Dr. Brown
has agreed to take an advisory role in our quest to
understand the mechanisms of
neurodegeneration", said Dr. Raul Krauss,
Director of NeuroSciences at AlphaGene. "We
believe our cDNA inventory contains a number of
novel genes with therapeutic applications for
neurological disorders. The use of our proprietary
microarrays to study differential gene expression
will provide, what we hope will be, significant
insights to defining and developing therapeutic
targets with Dr. Brown's assistance", said
Donald J. McCarren, Ph.D., President and CEO of
AlphaGene.
"This is an incredibly exciting time to bring
the power of genomics to the analysis of
neurodegenerative diseases", said Dr. Brown.
"I look forward to a highly positive and
productive association with AlphaGene."
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.
