Prolinx, Inc. Announces Expansion of Proteomic Tools Product Line.

Business Editors, Health/Medical Writers

BIOWIRE2K

BOTHELL, Wash.--(BW HealthWire)--Aug. 6, 2002

Prolinx(R), Inc. announced today the release of numerous new products in their Versalinx(TM) Chemical Affinity Technology line for proteomic assay development.

These new tools greatly expand the utility of this unique, small-molecule, chemical affinity system for sample preparation and proteomic analysis, ameliorating impediments to efficient drug discovery.

Versalinx Chemical Affinity Tools are based upon a small-molecule affinity pair -- phenyl(di)boronic acid (P(D)BA) and salicylhydroxamic acid (SHA) -- that interact to form a molecular complex under a wide range of conditions. Applications for this technology include sample preparation, screening and analytical assay development for research and development in laboratories in basic research, biomedical, pharmaceutical, veterinarian, environmental and agricultural science. Versalinx technology, and the suite of products is has enabled, offer laboratories meaningful enhancements to existing methods in terms of time, sensitivity, throughput and accuracy. These advantages are particularly significant in the emerging proteomics field where large numbers of samples of variable nature present technological barriers that must be overcome.

Specific challenges addressed by these new products include the ability to customize the purification of biomolecules by enabling a scientist to rapidly build high-capacity affinity columns utilizing mild conditions that preserve biological activity. Additionally, novel pre-conjugated ligands simplify the process by eliminating optimization time while ensuring success. Demand for enhanced assay development tools within drug discovery has been met by the creation of rationally-designed reagents that create bioconjugates with enhanced avidity while utilizing fewer conjugation sites.

"Our customers have conveyed an urgent need for improved tools that eliminate the resource intensive aspects of drug discovery research," said Karin A. Hughes, Ph.D., vice president of Research and Development. "The results of our endeavor to meet this challenge have afforded these practical solutions by the Prolinx team. We expect to continue to create innovative tools to meet the needs of this rapidly expanding market."

Prolinx, founded in 1995, is a privately held biotechnology company located north of Seattle, Washington, USA. The company develops, manufactures, and markets chemistry based tools, applications, and systems that advance developments in bioresearch, biotechnology and drug discovery. The company has commercialized a number of proprietary technologies including: Versalinx Chemical Affinity Tools, a synthetic chemical affinity technology targeted at the proteomics and genomics markets; Versalinx Protein Microarray Technology, a novel open platform array system specifically designed to enable developments in the emerging protein and peptide chip market; and RapXtract Superparamagnetic Separation Technology for the purification of fluorescent labeling reactions used in sequencing and microarray applications. The company is also developing instrumentation for label-free molecular interaction analysis based upon advances in surface plasmon resonance technology. The first instrument, the Acapella(TM) Molecular Interaction Analysis System, will be released in 2002. Information about Prolinx is available at www.prolinx.com or by phoning 425/487-3401. Prolinx is a registered trademark, and Acapella, Octave, RapXtract and Versalinx are trademarks of Prolinx, Inc.

Search terms: proteome, proteomics, genomics, protein array, protein microarray, protein biochip, nucleic acids, proteins and peptides, drug discovery, biosensor, SPR, molecular interaction analysis