Digital Gene Technologies appoints director of bioinformatics and molecular biology group leader; former Sequana Therapeutics and Roche Institute scientists to fill key positions in scale-up of DGT operations.

LA JOLLA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 9, 1996--Digital Gene Technologies Inc. (DGT), a newly established total gene expression and comparison company based in La Jolla, announced Tuesday that it has appointed Philip C. Miller, Ph.D. as director of bioinformatics and Brian S. Hilbush, Ph.D. as molecular biology group leader, according to Robert J. Sutcliffe, president and CEO.

DGT was established to apply technology based on research conducted in the laboratory of Dr. J. Gregor Sutcliffe, a company founder, and chairman of the DGT scientific advisory board, at The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla. DGT recently announced it had received $8 million in financing from a group of private investors organized by the company.

"Both of these scientists will play key roles in moving DGT towards full-scale operations," said Mr. Sutcliffe. As director of bioinformatics, Miller will lead the effort to integrate the DGT computer system with publicly available genebanks, and develop the DGT proprietary gene expression database that will become a key component of DGT's gene discovery.

Hilbush will lead the molecular biology group in a variety of activities, including construction and screening of cDNA libraries, determination of special PCR primer conditions and preparation of samples for high-throughput, robot-aided gene expression profiling.

Miller was most recently a biocomputational scientist in the bioinformatics department at Sequana Therapeutics where he was a principal researcher in genetic analysis for disease gene search using DNA markers. While at Sequana, he was also responsible for development of DNA analysis tools and methods as well as robotic methods for pooling PCR products.

Earlier in his career, Miller conducted electron microscopy research in structural biology as a member of the research staff at the University of California, San Diego, faculty of medicine, department of neuroscience. He also served as a senior scientist at Netrologic, where he programmed and managed development of a digital imaging system for robotic control, and as a software engineer at both NKH and Letts Systems. Miller received his Ph.D. in biology/computer science from the University of British Columbia.

Before joining DGT, Hilbush spent three and one-half years as a postdoctoral fellow at the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology, a research arm of Hoffmann-La Roche Inc., where he worked on the cloning and characterization of inducible and/or neural-specific genes in the mammalian central nervous system. Hilbush received his Ph.D. in neurobiology from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

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 contained 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., La Jolla

Robert J. Sutcliffe, 619/552-1400

or

Keatinge & Associates Inc.

Richard W. Keatinge, Ph.D., 619/625-2100