COMPUGEN DEBUTS Z3 AUTOMATED 2D GEL ELECTROPHORESIS SYSTEM.

Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq: CGEN), Tel Aviv, Israel, has launched its Z3 high throughput 2D gel electrophoresis analysis system. Z3 is Compugen's first product for proteomics research.

Proteomics is the study of gene expression at the protein level, aimed at identifying drug targets, therapeutic proteins and diagnostic markers. Proteomics is a rapidly growing field, expected to have far reaching implications for drug development and discovery.

2D gel electrophoresis is the method of choice for separating complex mixtures of proteins, the first step in the typical proteomics research workflow. However, despite the growing need for this capability, the 2D gel technique is only partially exploited, due to difficulties both with the reproducibility of the technique, and with the analysis of the results. Z3 is designed to address these difficulties by automating the 2D gel analysis process through the use of proprietary algorithms for both gel comparisons and the computation of differential expression. Z3 has demonstrated the ability to significantly expedite, simplify and improve 2D gel analysis.

"Z3 has been in beta test since early this year at a number of commercial and academic institutions, and has been enthusiastically received," said Dr. Zeev Smilansky, vice president Proteomics, Compugen. Dr. Brad Walsh, Facility manager, Australian Proteome Analysis commented, "After testing Z3 at the Australian Proteome Analysis Facility, we believe it is a revolutionary image analysis package with great potential for bringing a paradigm shift to the way 2D gels are analyzed."

The Z3 software system is now commercially available under various licensing arrangements, including a pay per gel subscription model, by which gel analysis is consumed similarly to a reagent. In addition, Compugen has been beta testing, for a number of months, its Z3 based 2D gel image analysis service to be offered as part of LabOnWeb.com, Compugen's life science research engine for genomic, proteomic and transcriptomic analysis. Commercial availability of Z3 over LabOnWeb.com is anticipated by the fourth quarter of this year.

Prof. Dr. Helmut Meyer, CEO, Prot@gen, a proteomics company, known for its expertise in 2D gels, stated: "Compugen's Z3 image analysis software takes only 10 minutes to provide complete analysis of proteins, compared with the up to two days it takes for rival products. The Z3 software helps take the bottleneck out of image analysis."

About Z3

Z3 employs proprietary registration algorithms for highly accurate automatic alignment of two gel images within a few seconds. In addition, its unique approach for comparing differential expressions improves the accuracy of analysis results. Analyzed images are then displayed using color overlay technology that makes the data visually and intuitively accessible. Further, Z3 provides research oriented tools for data mining and querying, allowing scientists to extract a vast amount of information from 2D gels in general and large scale experiments in particular.

About Compugen

Compugen (www.cgen.com) is a pioneer in the field of computational genomics and is developing new approaches to computational proteomics. Compugen combines the disciplines of mathematics and computer science with molecular biology to improve its understanding of genomics and proteomics. Compugen develops products and services that enable life scientists to significantly enhance and accelerate their research efforts in the discovery of drugs, therapeutics, diagnostics and agricultural products. Compugen provides its corporate solutions to pharmaceutical, biotechnology and other life science organizations such as Pfizer, Human Genome Sciences, Inc. and the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. In addition, Compugen provides these products and services to molecular biologists and other life scientists through its LabOnWeb.com Web site. Compugen is also commercializing the genes and proteins that it discovers through its Novel Genomics division.

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