Bio Screening Industry News

Rockville, MD, April 23, 2008: Seegene today announced that its Seeplex(R) multi-pathogen tests are now optimized for Lab 901’s ScreenTape(R)  and Caliper LifeSciences’ LC90(R)  automated detection systems. Compatibility with these two leading detection systems opens the way for Seeplex tests to be used throughout a wide spectrum of labs, from small to mid-sized labs to large commercial reference labs.

Seeplex tests are based on a breakthrough multiplexing PCR technology capable of detecting multiple pathogens in a single tube. Seeplex-based tests deliver maximum specificity, reproducibility and sensitivity and can be applied to a broad range of molecular diagnostics, including human, animal, plant and microorganism. Currently, Seegene’s Seeplex multi-pathogen detection tests offer labs worldwide simple, cost-effective and comprehensive screening for STDs, respiratory viruses, human papillomaviruses, sepsis and pneumonia.

“Our broad portfolio of multi-pathogen detection tests being optimized for ScreenTape and the Caliper LC90 systems will make it easier for clinical and research labs of all sizes to take advantage of our technology,” said Dr. Jong-Yoon Chun, Founder and Chief Executive Officer, Seegene. “Both the Lab901 and Caliper LifeSciences systems represent the cutting edge of automated detection. Working in combination with these leading systems provides a powerful high-throughput method for analyzing test results.”

The ScreenTape system is the first fully automated, walk-away solution for gel electrophoresis. ScreenTape will automate the simultaneous analysis of eight or sixteen Seeplex PCR samples. Processing speed for 8 samples is completed within 10 minutes;  16 samples within 15 minutes. ScreenTape displays results using easy to interpret color codes. The ScreenTape system comprises the TapeStation (that carries out liquid handling, electrophoresis and imaging), ScreenTape (a consumable that contains the pre-cast, pre-packaged gel and running buffer) and bespoke software. With no gel or buffer preparation and no system priming, even untrained operators can rapidly generate accurate and reproducible test data.

The LabChip 90 System performs fast, automated, 1-D electrophoretic separations of protein, DNA, and RNA samples directly from a 96 or 384 well plate. The LC90 can load and read 96 Seeplex samples within 45 minutes or 384 Seeplex samples in 4 hours in easy-to-interpret reports.

Seegene is currently working to optimize Seeplex tests for other automated capillary electrophoresis systems. Seeplex’s compatibility with a wide range of automated detection systems will provide end-users with the flexibility to use the platform best suited for their purposes.

About Seeplex(R) System: Frontier of Multi-pathogen Detection

Seeplex(R) is a breakthrough multiplexing PCR technology that enables a new standard in simultaneous multi-pathogen detection. Seeplex works in combination with automatic detection systems such as Capillary Electrophoresis and delivers a benchmark in testing accuracy, efficiency and cost-effectiveness.

About Seegene

Seegene, Inc. is pioneering the field of multi-pathogen testing. Seegene applies its novel and proprietary Seeplex system utilizing “DPO (Dual Priming Oligo)” and “ACP (Annealing Control Primer)” to create multi-pathogen tests delivering maximum specificity, reproducibility and sensitivity. With over 260 citations and several patents and patents pending, Seegene has been offering advanced molecular diagnostics services to over 1,000 major global institutes in more than 25 countries. Seegene is actively working with both the scientific and OEM business community. Seegene’s mission is to integrate Seeplex with disease diagnostics to provide a new guideline for effectively treating patients. Seegene was founded in 2000 and is based in Rockville, MD and Seoul, Korea. For more information please visit www.seegene.com.

(Amherst, NH) - The success of recombinant protein drugs such as Enbrel, Remicade, and Herceptin in treating refractory conditions is fueling the search for protein and peptide-based therapeutic agents in oncology, inflammation and a host of other disease classes. Led by the proliferation of antibody-based drug candidates, biological drugs as a class continue to outpace all other NCEs in development pipelines and clinical trials. This shift away from small molecule drugs is creating opportunities for drug developers, device designers, packagers and - ultimately - pharmaceutical marketers.

Because biological drugs most often target chronic conditions, dosing strategies and treatment protocols must be developed for long-term use, often for self-administration by patients who may have limitations directly related to their condition. The powerful physiological effects of antibodies, hormones and other biological drugs also increase the need for safety and compliance.

Compliance with drug therapy and disease management protocols has been and is a primary concern within the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries. Efforts to enhance compliance are having a non-negligible effect on drug formulations and delivery decisions, and can be a significant factor in the prescribing decisions of most physicians. Compliance concerns have driven and continue to drive investment in new drug delivery technologies.

As patients live longer and are diagnosed with chronic and often debilitating ailments, the result will be a dramatic increase in self-administration of drug therapies in non-traditional settings for a number of conditions. This trend is creating an increased interest in routes of administration that are patient-friendly and cost-effective. Pharma company decision makers have come to the realization that new drug product success no longer only depends on the medication itself but also on achieving a patient-friendly form of application.

New injectable delivery device designs currently being developed will create new opportunities for alternative injection methods. Reusable injectors designed to accept prefilled syringes or drug cartridges will improve ease-of-use and increase alternative device share of the growing self-injection market. Partnerships between device suppliers and pharmaceutical companies will foster market acceptance of new injection devices for a host of new therapies such as therapeutic vaccines, DNA-based drugs, and protein-derived biologics.

These findings are contained in a comprehensive report, Injectable Drug Delivery: Evolving Markets, Emerging Opportunities. More information is available at www.greystoneassociates.org .

About Greystone
Greystone Associates is a medical and healthcare technology consulting firm providing services in strategic planning, venture development, product commercialization, and technology and market assessment.

We are happy to announce that Biosearch Technologies of Novato, California, have extended Bio-Synthesis Inc, of Lewisville, Texas their line of Fluorescent dyes and quenchers for use in biomedical research applications. End users who source Biosearch dyes for any purpose other than non-commercial R&D applications will still be required to contact the Biosearch Technologies Licensing Department to obtain a Commercial Use License. These dyes are chemically coupled to synthetic oligonucleotides and provide an excellent means for non-radioactive detection of DNA targets. Bio-Synthesis Inc has been providing custom synthetic oligonucleotides to the biomedical research community worldwide since 1984

Bio-Synthesis Inc, headquartered in Lewisville, Texas is a leading biomedical manufacturer of custom peptide synthesis, polyclonal antibodies, bioconjugates, DNA oligomer, HLA/DNA typing, organic synthesis and a diverse number of bimolecular products for the biomedical/life science community worldwide.  Our staff of highly experienced and qualified chemists, biologists and immunologists has reliably and consistently provided products and services to large pharmaceuticals and universities across the country that meet the most demanding requirements for quality, turnaround and expert technical support.

Bio-Synthesis Inc was the first commercial company providing DNA and peptides in 1984 and have assisted biomedical researchers (and published articles) in the design of complex bimolecular, of >600,000 peptides used in a variety of fields including but not limited to cancer, apoptosis, signal transduction, cell cycle regulation, genomic sequencing, microarrays, epitope mapping, and HLA typing.  We specialize in custom peptide synthesis from small to large scale and we can help you design the optimal peptides for your research needs at the most competitive price and the highest quality. We have capabilities to synthesize over 500 peptides simultaneously with over 22 years of experienced manufacturing. We believe our quality control and speed is unmatched in the industry.  Our organic synthesis divisions have successfully completed a number of projects with various biotechnology companies.  Furthermore, Bio-Synthesis Inc. is accredited by the AABB (American Association of Blood Banks) to conduct human genetic analysis.  Bio-Synthesis continues to be the worldwide leader for quality custom synthesis.

For more information, please call 1-800-227-0627

Complete with comprehensive on-board software for qualitative, quantitative and kinetic applications, integral shaking, and extensive memory for both results and methods storage the Anthos MultiRead 400 stand-alone reader offers the laboratory versatility, reliability and fast reading times.
Incorporating digital light control to optimise long term stability and an automatic self-test and calibration procedure, quality measurements are continuously assured.
Each instrument is also supplied with Kontrol+ software allowing methods to be stored and downloaded from a PC and results to be transferred from the MultiRead 400. In addition DigiRead software is provided which allows direct control of the reader itself from a PC.
Data sheets for both this new product and other equipment in the Anthos range may be found at www.anthos-labtec.com

Sunnyvale, CA November 15, 2007 - Labcyte Inc. will supply Burnham Institute for Medical Research (Burnham) with more than $2.3 million worth of Echo® liquid handlers for use in screening large biological libraries. The systems will be installed at both the Institute’s LaJolla, (CA) and Lake Nona, Orlando (FL) campuses. These instruments will be part of the world’s largest screening system and will bolster Burnham’s research and drug discovery efforts, which include research on cancer, neurological diseases, aging, diabetes, and obesity.

Burnham is one of the nation’s 10 collaborating centers of excellence funded under a special initiative created by the National Institutes of Health, which together comprise the largest public-sector drug discovery effort in history. The state-of-the-art Labcyte technology will improve screening results while reducing operating costs for Burnham and the collaborating network advancing this historical effort. The systems will be delivered over the next six months.

“The Echo liquid handlers were selected because their unique acoustic technology will enhance our ability to miniaturize assays, reduce compound waste, and meet throughput requirements,” explained Dr. Stefan Vasile, Director of the Chemical Library Screening Facility for Burnham Institute. “The Echo systems will be used for compound plate-to-plate transfer, reformatting, dose-response experiments and hit picking.”

“Our patented acoustic droplet ejection technology dramatically reduces waste while cutting operating expenses,” said Dr. Elaine J. Heron, Labcyte CEO. “Traditional liquid handlers are prone to poor precision and accuracy as transfer volumes are decreased. Researchers who require flexibility in their processes and biology find that the Echo systems provide that for them easily, quickly, and cost-effectively.”

Labcyte Inc., headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, is the world leader in providing acoustic droplet ejection technology for pharmaceutical and life science applications. The award-winning Echo 500 series liquid handlers and Portrait 630 reagent multi-spotters are used in nine of the 10 largest pharmaceutical companies, as well as in leading academic and research institutions and contract research organizations worldwide. The Labcyte acoustic droplet ejection technology has broad applications including compound management, assays, arraying, particle manufacturing, imaging mass spectrometry, and live-cell transfer. Labcyte also provides a range of unique microplate consumables. Labcyte has 29 issued U.S. patents, 3 issued European patents and additional international filings. For more information, visit www.labcyte.com

Brady’s proven labelling technology protects against the potential disaster of being unable to identify a sample due to the label falling off!

Laboratory labelling presents many challenges: labels may be subjected to hostile environments, solvents and other chemicals and extreme temperatures. They are also applied to widely varying surfaces and sample shapes and sizes. Sometimes, as in field sampling, labels have to be used in dirty or greasy situations. Under these conditions, the risk is that labels may become detached from the sample they are intended to identify. Of course, this problem may only become apparent when it’s too late!

Brady scientific labelling systems have been developed with these conditions in mind. For example, there are 10 different adhesives to choose from to suit virtually any application, with technical advice to make the right choice, and there are labels specially developed for the laboratory environment.

The Brady Freezerbondz™ range can be applied direct to new or frozen surfaces and survives exposure to common laboratory environments such as liquid nitrogen and temperatures from freezer (-196°C) to autoclave (up to 121°C). These labels also show excellent chemical resistance when exposed to solvents such as DMSO and Xylene.

Alternatively, Brady’s B461 self-laminating labels also provide exceptional permanence under extreme conditions. These labels combine a white label area with a clear overlaminating area that not only protects the legend but allows visibility of the sample itself and are available to suit all standard laboratory consumables – vials, tubes and slides.

The Brady Corporation has offices in 24 countries and is represented in over 100. Research laboratories in the US and Europe ensure a continuous programme of product innovation, evolution and improvement.

Visit www.bradylab.co.uk/adhesion or call 01295 228288 for more information.

A new device invented by researchers at the University of Virginia could save pharmaceutical companies significant time and money in screening potential new drug compounds.

“We want to help the pharmaceutical industry identify effective therapuetic compounds by allowing them to fail early, fail fast, and fail cheap before going to very expensive animal studies,” said Brett Blackman, an assistant professor in biomedical engineering.

Blackman and Brian Wamhoff, assistant professor in the department of medicine (cardiovascular division), have teamed up to create the novel system, HemoShear 2.0, which offers researchers for the first time the ability to observe the behavior patterns of human vascular cells under a variety of blood flow conditions that occur inside the body’s cardiovascular system.

HemoShear 2.0 models the early indicators of atherosclerosis — hardening or narrowing of the arteries — by placing actual human vascular cells (i.e., endothelial and smooth muscle cells) in an environment that mimics an artery with blood flowing through it. Data from the exposure can be measured and recorded.

HemoShear 2.0 can help test the efficacy of therapeutic compounds and aid in early stage toxicity studies. Instead of testing drug compounds on isolated cells, which can produce false negatives, drug companies can use the device to test compounds in a more realistic environment.

“What the pharmaceutical industry lacks is the ability to mimic an organ ex vivo,” Wamhoff said. “We know that as soon as we take an organ and disperse the cells, those cells are no longer like they were in the body. If you apply a novel compound to that cell, the response you get might be real but it’s not meaningful in the context of the disease. When you go to animal studies, that response may not carry over in the blood vessel. It is clear that human-based biomimetic models are needed to fill this gap”

Atherosclerosis is considered the most important underlying cause of heart attack or stroke. The disease tends to occur at locations in the arteries where blood flow is compromised, causing detrimental changes in both the cells lining the interior of blood vessels (endothelial cells) and the cells found in the wall of blood vessels (smooth muscle cells).

Using an MRI, the researchers determined the rhythmic pattern at which blood flows through different arteries in human subjects. “We are then able to simulate the same flow patterns in those areas that are more or less susceptible to atherosclerosis and observe how the cells respond to these flow patterns in HemoShear,” Blackman said.

According to Wamhoff, this kind of modeling offers unique opportunities to observe the cells and their interaction. “Research has been conducted wherein human cells are isolated to observe behavior patterns, but there are no available models that allow one to accurately study the intricate communication between endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells in a setting that mimics actual blood flow in the body.”

This communication is important, the researchers say, because the cells lining the interior of the blood vessels, the endothelial cells, recognize different blood flow patterns imposed upon them and respond by expressing or repressing genes. This, in turn, influences their interactions with the cells found in the walls of blood vessels, the smooth muscle cells — interactions that, the researchers found, may lead to the onset of early-inflammation-associated atherosclerosis in certain arteries.

Using HemoShear 2.0, the researchers have been able to recreate blood flow patterns in bifurcating and bulbous areas like the internal carotid that are more susceptible to the disease (atheroprone areas) and the pipe-like arteries like the common carotid that are less susceptible to the disease (atheroprotective areas).

Using a synthetic elastic layer that is similar to a real blood vessel wall, endothelial cells are plated on the top surface and smooth muscle cells on the bottom surface. Then, the different blood flow patterns modeled from human circulation are applied to the endothelial cells through rotation of a motor-driven cone system. The findings: the blood flow can influence both endothelial and smooth muscle cell behaviors.

When subjected to atheroprotective blood flow patterns, the endothelial cells aligned with the direction of the blood flow, and the smooth muscle cells aligned perpendicularly to the flow as is true in a healthy blood vessel. In stark contrast, the atheroprone type of flow caused the endothelial cells to move away from their parallel structure while smooth muscle cells moved away from their perpendicular structure. This remodeling mimics the early phases of the diseased state of the artery; the blood flow pattern associated with atheroprone areas resulted in inflammation in both cells reminiscent of early hallmarks of atherosclerosis. This was confirmed through evaluating gene and protein expression profiles in both cell types.

“The results of this study validate the use of this novel co-culture system as a relevant biomimetic vascular model for studying early atherosclerotic events,” said Tom Skalak, professor and chair of the U.Va. Department of Biomedical Engineering. “The cells’ responses to these carefully controlled models of blood flow can now be used to develop therapeutic interventions for detection and treatment of vascular diseases — it has the potential to be revolutionary.”

Blackman,Wamhoff, and Dr. Norbert Leitinger (department of pharmacology) have formed a collaborative entity — the Laboratory of Atherogenesis — to begin using the HemoShear system to make these translatable discoveries in atherosclerosis.

A provisional patent has been filed for HemoShear 2.0. The research that HemoShear 2.0 made possible was spearheaded by a biomedical engineering graduate student, Nicole Hastings (’08), and is published in the American Journal of Physiology — Cell Physiology.

‘Safecode’ is a new system for clinical trials represents a significant enhancement over traditional CODEBREAK product identification
methods.

Our system allows confidential information to be printed using industry standard inkjet technology.

The printed information is illegible unless a tamper evident strip is removed. This ensures that any effort to compromise the security of data is immediately apparent.

http://www.acs-labels.co.uk/Safecode.htm

FOSTER CITY, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Applied Biosystems (NYSE: ABI), an Applera Corporation business, and its joint venture partner, Sciex, a division of MDS Inc.’s Analytical Technologies business, (NYSE: MDZ, TSX: MDS), today introduced a new, automated toxicology testing application designed to better identify drugs of abuse, such as cocaine, heroin and date rape drugs for forensic investigations.

The new Cliquid™ Drug Screen and Quant Software for Routine Forensic Toxicology application equips toxicology laboratories for the first time with a built-in library of 1,200 compounds and a search reporting function designed to screen hundreds of drugs in less than 20 minutes. This software application is an advancement over existing toxicology testing methods. It enables faster delivery of results, more thorough screening and, ultimately, more accurate analysis to be used as evidence in criminal court cases.

Toxicology laboratories are relied upon for the testing of narcotics and other substances in a variety of cases such as impaired driving, homicides and sexual assaults. For example, if a person dies in a car accident, investigators turn to toxicology laboratories to ascertain whether or not the driver was impaired. In sexual assault cases, toxicology testing can help investigators determine if the victim was unknowingly drugged to facilitate the crime.

Identifying an expanding array of ‘street’ drugs has created new challenges for toxicologists, necessitating widespread re-evaluations of testing and analysis techniques to help prevent emerging derivatives of substances from slipping through the process undetected.

Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) are among the toxicology scientists at laboratories around the world who are increasingly expected to deliver accurate results in detecting a broader range of drugs of abuse. Toxicology laboratory personnel at UCSF have evaluated this new Cliquid software application.

“The accuracy of the test results is critical in toxicology analysis and interpretation,” said Dr. Alan Wu, chief of the chemistry and toxicology laboratories at San Francisco General Hospital, and professor of laboratory medicine at the University of California, San Francisco. “The new Cliquid software application for drug screening promises to make interpretation of toxicology results more efficient.”

Cliquid Drug Screen and Quant Software for Routine Forensic Toxicology is the first dedicated application that utilizes liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC/MS/MS), an advanced analytical technique for screening compounds. The high degree of sensitivity, minimum sample preparation and short run times of this technique result in being able to analyze more sample per unit time at a lower cost than other techniques, such as LC or gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS). Traditional toxicology testing technology, which uses UV-based liquid chromatography, has been limited to detecting high concentrations of a narrow range of drugs because of the limited sensitivity of that technology.

The Cliquid software application reduces the complexity for routine testing to support greater confidence and throughput. The 1,200 compounds in the application’s built-in library consist of drugs of abuse, pharmaceuticals, poisons and metabolites to provide a complete analysis of what may have been ingested. The automatic LC/MS/MS-based library then simply searches for each of those substances through a simple, turnkey workflow.

“Results obtained from a toxicology laboratory can make or break an entire forensic investigation,” said Laura Lauman, president for Applied Biosystems’ proteomics and small molecules division. “Applied Biosystems/MDS SCIEX is responding to our customers’ requests for advanced tools that eliminate the complexity and limitations of traditional techniques and more quickly deliver irrefutable results.”

The Applied Biosystems/MDS SCIEX Instruments joint venture has a 20-year history of innovation and a broad portfolio of mass spectrometry-based technologies and systems that enable advancements in research laboratories in biotechnology, biomedical and pharmaceutical fields. Applied Biosystems Global Services offers professional consulting services specifically designed to help toxicology laboratories maximize their investments in new systems and software.

“The innovative Cliquid software application has the potential to have a significant impact on the rapidly evolving field of toxicology,” said Andy Boorn, president for MDS Analytical Technologies. “The incredible precision of our mass spectrometry technology can help toxicologists meet the challenges they face today in their analysis for forensic cases.”

For more information about Cliquid Drug Screen and Quant Software for Routine Forensic Toxicology, please visit info.appliedbiosystems.com/cliquiddrug

About Applera Corporation and Applied Biosystems

Applera Corporation consists of two operating groups. The Applied Biosystems Group serves the life science industry and research community by developing and marketing instrument-based systems, consumables, software, and services. Its customers use these tools to analyze nucleic acids (DNA and RNA), small molecules, and proteins to make scientific discoveries and develop new pharmaceuticals. The Applied Biosystems’ products also serve the needs of some markets outside of life science research, which we refer to as “applied markets.” These include the fields of human identity testing (forensic and paternity testing); biosecurity, which refers to products needed in response to the threat of biological terrorism and other malicious, accidental, and natural biological dangers; and quality and safety testing, such as testing required for food and pharmaceutical manufacturing. Applied Biosystems is headquartered in Foster City, CA, and reported sales of approximately $2.1 billion during fiscal 2007. The Celera Group is primarily a molecular diagnostics business that is using proprietary genomics and proteomics discovery platforms to identify and validate novel diagnostic markers, and is developing diagnostic products based on these markers as well as other known markers. Celera maintains a strategic alliance with Abbott for the development and commercialization of molecular, or nucleic acid-based, diagnostic products, and it is also developing new diagnostic products outside of this alliance. Through its genomics and proteomics research efforts, Celera is also discovering and validating therapeutic targets, and it is seeking strategic partnerships to develop therapeutic products based on these discovered targets. Information about Applera Corporation, including reports and other information filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is available at www.applera.com, or by telephoning 800.762.6923. Information about Applied Biosystems is available at www.appliedbiosystems.com

About MDS Inc.

MDS Inc. (TSX: MDS; NYSE: MDZ) is a global life sciences company that provides market-leading products and services that our customers need for the development of drugs and diagnosis and treatment of disease. We are a leading global provider of pharmaceutical contract research, medical isotopes for molecular imaging, radiotherapeutics, and analytical instruments. MDS has more than 6,200 highly skilled people in 28 countries. Find out more at www.mdsinc.com or by calling 1-888-MDS-7222, 24 hours a day.

About Sciex

Sciex is a division of MDS Analytical Technologies. The Sciex product portfolio offers proven market leadership in mass spectrometry through its joint ventures with two of the world’s leading analytical instrumentation and life sciences companies, Applied Biosystems, a business of the Applera Corporation and PerkinElmer Inc. Find out more at www.mdssciex.com

Applied Biosystems Forward Looking Statements

Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking. These may be identified by the use of forward-looking words or phrases such as “should,” “expect,” and “planned,” among others. These forward-looking statements are based on Applera Corporation’s current expectations. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a “safe harbor” for such forward-looking statements. In order to comply with the terms of the safe harbor, Applera Corporation notes that a variety of factors could cause actual results and experience to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements. These factors include but are not limited to: (1) rapidly changing technology and dependence on the development and customer acceptance of new products; (2) sales dependent on customers’ capital spending policies and government-sponsored research; and (3) other factors that might be described from time to time in Applera Corporation’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and Applera does not undertake any duty to update this information, including any forward-looking statements, unless required by law.

©.Copyright 2007. Applera Corporation. All rights reserved. Applied Biosystems, AB (Design), Applera and Celera are registered trademarks of Applera Corporation or its subsidiaries in the US and/or certain other countries. Cliquid is a trademark of Applied Biosystems/MDS SCIEX, a joint venture between Applera Corporation and MDS Inc.

ST. LOUIS, Oct. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — Sigma-Aldrich announced today the global release of the N-TER(TM) Nanoparticle siRNA Transfection System. N-TER allows researchers to reproducibly interrogate gene function, via siRNA transfection, in model cell types that have previously not been considered amenable to conventional lipid-based siRNA delivery reagents.

“Traditional lipid-based siRNA transfection reagents exhibit a number of drawbacks, including high cell death rates and a limited ability to deliver siRNA into a variety of cell types, such as primary, neuronal, differentiated, and nondividing cells,” said Tim Fleming, Director of Global Commercial Marketing at Sigma-Aldrich. “Our goal is to introduce a reagent into the scientific community that effectively bypasses these historic limitations and enables siRNA transfection to be performed in a wider variety of model systems.”

The N-TER Nanoparticle siRNA Transfection System circumvents the limitations of lipid-based transfection reagents by relying on a stable nanoparticle, formed by the blending of siRNA and the N-TER peptide, to quickly enter into the cell’s cytoplasm to deliver its siRNA cargo.

In addition, due to the reagent’s stability, stocks of N-TER/siRNA Nanoparticles can be stored for long periods of time and used for subsequent transfections, increasing standardization and reproducibility in all transfection experiments targeting the same gene.

“Our research on the functions of West Nile Virus proteins involves looking at gene function in a number of different cell types,” said Dr. Tom C. Hobman, Professor of Cell Biology at the University of Alberta. “We tested a number of siRNA delivery reagents before using N-TER. Once we tried N-TER, we were very impressed with its ability to reproducibly deliver siRNA into our cell types of interest, with minimal cellular toxicity.”

For more information on the N-TER Nanoparticle siRNA Transfection System and to see the list of cell types in which N-TER has been proven to work, please visit http://www.sigma.com/nter.

About Sigma-Aldrich: Sigma-Aldrich is a leading Life Science and High Technology company. Our biochemical and organic chemical products and kits are used in scientific and genomic research, biotechnology, pharmaceutical development, the diagnosis of disease and as key components in pharmaceutical and other high technology manufacturing. We have customers in life science companies, university and government institutions, hospitals, and in industry. Over one million scientists and technologists use its products. Sigma-Aldrich operates in 36 countries and has 7,700 employees providing excellent service worldwide. We are committed to Accelerating Customer Success through Leadership in Life Science, High Technology and Service. For more information about Sigma-Aldrich, please visit our award-winning Web site at http://www.sigma-aldrich.com.

Cautionary Statement: This release contains forward-looking statements relating to future strategic actions and initiatives and similar intentions and beliefs and other statements regarding the Company’s expectations, beliefs, intentions and the like, which involve assumptions regarding the Company’s operations and conditions in the markets the Company serves. The Company does not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.