Houston, TX – May 6, 2008 – LC Sciences announced today that it has entered into a strategic marketing alliance with DNAVision to increase accessibility to its custom microRNA profiling service and enhance both its customer and technical service to researchers in Europe. LC Sciences’ microRNA profiling service is powered by µParaflo® microfluidic technology and makes use of flexible custom microarrays for expression profiling as well as discovery of novel small RNAs and validation of predicted microRNAs. DNAVision, specialized in molecular biology, provides a wide range of genetic services and products to the pharmaceutical, food, and biotechnology industries.
“We are very excited about this alliance with DNAVision, clearly one of the quality leaders of microarray and other molecular biology services,” says Chris Hebel, Director of Business Development at LC Sciences. “Although we are currently serving customers globally from our headquarters in the U.S., we felt is was important to extend our reach and provide local service to areas where there is a concentration of microRNA research occurring, like Europe. DNAVision has extensive microarray and microRNA expertise in-house and can provide not only ordering convenience but also real technical guidance to researchers in this rapidly advancing field.”
“We are delighted to combine our quality gene expression services with the technology developed by LC Sciences.” said Jean-Pol Detiffe, CEO of DNAVision. “This agreement is a new evidence that DNAVision is becoming the technical partner of choice for microRNA expression profiling, using all the latest technologies available on the market” added Michäel Herman, DNAVision, Business Development Director.
MicroRNAs and other small RNAs found in non-coding regions of genomes have recently been found to regulate the expression of genes acting in a wide range of biology systems. The study of microRNA has attracted intense attention and is a rapidly evolving field. Although the regulatory functions of many known microRNAs are still not fully understood, many more microRNAs are continually being discovered. The number of microRNA sequences in the public database (miRBase) has been increasing steadily as new microRNAs are experimentally verified and deposited there. Especially in this rapidly evolving field, it is important for scientists to have access to the most up to date information and research tools. The µParaflo® technology is a unique combination of microfluidics, digital photolithography, and novel synthesis chemistry that enables on chip synthesis of custom microarrays. On chip synthesis (vs. spotting) of the most up to date microRNA probes sequences from miRBase ensures that researchers have the most complete picture of microRNA expression in their samples and, through the use of completely custom microarrays, allows for discovery of novel small RNAs as well as validation of computationally predicted microRNAs.
About µParaflo® Technology - The µParaflo® technology is a microfluidic platform for in situ parallel synthesis of biomolecular chips and miniturization of bioassays including binding and enzymatic reactions. This unique platform technology is based on a new class of three-dimensional pico-liter microfluidic reaction devices, and a digital light controlled synthesis method that employs conventional oligonucleotide or peptide synthesis chemistry; a completely programmable process. The seamless integration of these multidisciplinary technologies enables a signifcant advance in parallelization, miniaturization, customization, and automation.
About LC Sciences - LC Sciences is a genomics and proteomics products company offering a comprehensive line of DNA, RNA, and peptide microarrays for nucleic acid/protein profiling and functional analysis, biomarker-discovery, novel drug screening, and the custom development of miniaturized assay devices for diagnostics and biosensing applications. Based on the µParaflo® microfluidics technology, LC Sciences’ innovative products offer significant flexibility and customization capability for rapidly evolving, diverse customer needs. In an era of rapid technological advancement, LC Sciences offers service products which enable efficient one-stop solution for assays of DNA, RNA, protein, enzymes, antibodies, or small molecules. LC Sciences also provides unique synthetic DNA and RNA products such as OligoMix®, generated using their microfludic biochip synthesizer. These innovative products drive synthetic biology and systems biology applications by reducing the cost and increasing the speed of highly multiplexing large-scale nucleic acid and protein engineering experiments.
More information about LC Sciences is available at www.lcsciences.com. About DNAVision DNAVision is a leading provider of applied pharmacogenetic & pharmacogenomic services. DNAVision offers the powerful combination of different technologies in expression profiling, SNP genotyping and sequencing in a high quality environment. DNAVision is a spin-off of Free University of Brussels and Institute of Pathology and Genetics. DNAVision is the first full-service pharmacogenomic laboratory to be ISO17025 accredited, GLP certified and CLIA. More information on DNAVision’s service portfolio can be found on www.dnavision.be Contact: Chris Hebel LC Sciences Tel. 713-664-7087 Fax. 713-664-8181 chebel@lcsciences.com
Michaël Herman DNAVision Tel. +32 71 378 527 Fax. +32 71 378 501 m.herman@dnavision.be
