Digital Gene Technologies announces founding members of Scientific Advisory Board.

LA JOLLA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 26, 1996--Digital Gene Technologies Inc. (DGT), a newly established total gene expression and comparison company, Tuesday announced that Floyd E. Bloom, M.D., chairman of the department of neuropharmacology at The Scripps Research Institute and editor-in-chief of SCIENCE Magazine, and Wayne N. Frankel, Ph.D., staff scientist and Klingenstein Fellow in the Neurosciences at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor, Maine, have been named founding members of the DGT scientific advisory board.

In addition, J. Gregor Sutcliffe, Ph.D., a director of the company and its scientific founder, has been named chairman of the scientific advisory board, according to Robert J. Sutcliffe, president and CEO.

DGT was established to apply technology based on research conducted in the laboratory of Sutcliffe at The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla.

"With Drs. Bloom and Frankel joining Dr. Sutcliffe on our scientific advisory board, we have the nucleus of an outstanding group of experts who will help to guide the scientific development of DGT," said Sutcliffe. "We expect this group to play an important role in formulating our scientific strategies and guiding our research partnerships and strategic collaborations. We are delighted at the leadership promise these high caliber individuals offer us, and we are honored by their enthusiasm for the DGT technology."

Bloom chairs the department of neuropharmacology at The Scripps Research Institute and is the editor-in-chief of SCIENCE Magazine. Author of The Biochemical Basics of Neuropharmacology, 16 other books and monographs, and over 500 scientific papers, Bloom is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the recipient of numerous awards, including the Pasarow Award in Neuropsychiatry and the Herman von Helmholtz Award, as well as honorary degrees from major universities.

Frankel is an associate staff scientist and Klingenstein Fellow in the Neurosciences at the Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor. His doctoral studies of leukemia viruses were conducted in the laboratory of John Coffin at Tufts University School of Medicine.

At the Jackson Laboratory, his research focuses on complex genetic traits such as epilepsy, neural tube defects and host resistance to retroviral disease, and on gene mapping and gene cloning. He has received a number of fellowships from the Leukemia Society of America and is the author of more than 45 scientific papers in the field of mammalian genetics.

Sutcliffe, principal inventor of the DGT technology, is a member of the department of molecular biology at The Scripps Research Institute. His graduate work was conducted in the laboratory of Drs. Walter Gilbert and James D. Watson at Harvard University. Sutcliffe joined The Scripps Research Institute in 1978 where he collaborated with Dr. Richard Lerner.

Subsequently, Sutcliffe has focused his research in the area of the molecular nature of neural function, with interests in synaptic signal and second messenger action, especially in regard to memory and the involvement of serotonin in circadian rhythms, and the genetic basis of retinitis pigmentosa, using molecular, genomic and transgenic technologies. He is the author of more than 130 scientific papers and holds several patents in the area of molecular biology and neuroscience.

Digital Gene Technologies is a total gene expression and comparison company focusing on the exploitation of genomic bioinformatics through the application of proprietary technology that identifies and determines anatomical distribution and expression patterns of the genes active in any cell or tissue sample. The company provides customers with a variety of services, including automated tissue assays, access to proprietary databases, and new gene discovery.

CONTACT: Digital Gene Technologies Inc.

Robert J. Sutcliffe, 619/552-1400

or

Keatinge & Associates Inc.

Richard W. Keatinge, 619/625-2100