Kennedy Krieger Institute and Accelics to Form Research Computation Center to Speed Up Biomedical Discovery.

Business Editors/Health & Medical Writers

BALTIMORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 30, 2002

New Center Provides a Platform for Biomedical Research Acceleration

and Collaboration

Kennedy Krieger Institute (KKI), a world-renowned treatment and research center for children with developmental disabilities and Accelics, Inc., a computational applications and tools provider, have formed the Advanced Computational Research Center (ACRC) to advance new techniques and applications that will speed the progress of biomedical discoveries.

ACRC will provide the infrastructure for multi-disciplinary collaboration and disparate data correlation, as well as enable the advancement of computational techniques for the benefit of biomedical research. The ACRC will be located at Kennedy Krieger Institute in Baltimore.

At the center, researchers and principal investigators will employ data correlation and modeling technology and applications previously used in high-tech and engineering fields to analyze the wealth of information collected during medical research.

"There is an enormous opportunity to speed the progress of biomedical research through the power of computing, primarily in the management and integration of data," said Dr. Gary W. Goldstein, president and CEO of Kennedy Krieger Institute. "The Advanced Computational Research Center will serve as a core facility to support and coordinate research activities. Through this Center, cross-fertilization of seemingly disparate groups of researchers will be possible, resulting in a truly interdisciplinary approach to research."

This unique partnership resulted from a KKI/Accelics project on Adrenoleukosystrophy (ALD), a rare and debilitating nervous system disorder that causes the breakdown of the fatty substance that acts as insulating material around nerve fibers known as myelin.

This breakdown can cause neurological deterioration, including loss of verbal communication, strength and coordination, and eventually, complete breakdown of bodily function. The research, led by Dr. Hugo Moser, director of Neurogenetics at KKI, involved 3,000 patients and 1,400 families, whose members had been "mapped" to identify potential ALD carriers and compare similarities and differences.

"The center comes as part of a natural progression of the relationship Accelics has with Kennedy Krieger," said Brian K. Southern, president and co-founder of Accelics, Inc. "We are currently implementing our technical and scientific computing system for Dr. Moser's research on ALD to assist with his multidisciplinary approach to researching diagnostic and treatment methods. It is an honor to be working with Kennedy Krieger to utilize technology that can advance disease research with the goal of finding earlier intervention, more effective therapeutic methods, and possibly prevention."

By enabling the compilation and analysis of disparate information from multi-disciplinary medical studies on ALD, researchers will have the ability to better determine which individuals are at risk for a particular disease, and which individuals with the disease are likely to respond to certain treatments.

With most disorders and diseases, early intervention and treatment will play a crucial role to patients' long-term prognosis.

"This research has extremely practical applications," said Goldstein. "There are tremendous differences in the gene abnormalities of patients with ALD, so not everyone with the disorder responds to the same treatment in the same way. Until now, we have not been able to predict which patients will respond to various treatments. Previously, doctors would try a treatment, and for those who do not respond, they would try another. Now, using this technology, we expect to be able to identify patients whose patterns of the disorder are similar, and then target the most appropriate treatment the first time."

"There has been so much time, effort, and money spent on collecting data from the thousands of people who have come here for treatment," said Moser, who developed the diagnostic test for ALD and was part of the team that identified the gene causing the disorder. "And all of that data comes to such limited use unless you can put it all together in a meaningful way. Accelics' technology will allow us to speed the progress of our analysis of the enormous amount of data collected over the past 25 years to recognize data patterns and find the answers we've been searching for."

The project is still underway and will contribute to the success of a new $3 million, five-year grant for ALD research from the National Institute of Health.

Researchers have systematically identified carriers of the disorder, who are notified of their risk of having a child with ALD so that they can take the appropriate precautions and make informed decisions.

"The most prominent technological advancements in recent years have been made in medical research and computational capacity," said Southern. "Accelics is an enabler and the catalyst that brings these advancing groups together to converge on common applied research goals. Our collaboration with Kennedy Krieger and the creation of the ACRC provide an environment for the fusion of biomedical and computational research."

ABOUT KENNEDY KRIEGER INSTITUTE

Kennedy Krieger Institute is dedicated to helping children and adolescents with disabilities resulting from disorders of the brain achieve their potential and participate as fully as possible in family, community and school life. For more information about Kennedy Krieger Institute, visit www.kennedykrieger.org.

ABOUT ACCELICS INC.

Accelics is dedicated to developing computational applications and tools that accelerate research, development and discovery processes of biomedical, chemical, pharmaceutical and R&D-focused industries.

Accelics' award-winning technology applications enable multidisciplinary data correlation, predictive modeling and simulation, and collaborative knowledge creation for rapid convergence of the research and development (R&D) process to optimal innovation.

The company's applications are adaptive from laboratory to enterprise, significantly enhancing speed-to-market and bottom-line growth for companies, and providing opportunity for greater discovery by research organizations.

Accelics and its founders have more than 20 associated patents pending for developments in R&D and knowledge creation. Accelics is located at the techcenter@UMBC in Baltimore, Maryland. For more information about Accelics, visit www.accelics.com.

Accelics, the Accelics logo, REM, Accelerate Innovation, and OpI are trademarks or service marks of Accelics, Inc.