SignalGene Collaborators Identify: A Gene Which Protects Against Breast Cancer.Health/Medical Writers BIOWIRE2K MONTREAL--(BW HealthWire)--Aug. 8, 2001 SignalGene (TSE See Tokyo Stock Exchange. TSE 1. See Tokyo Stock Exchange (TSE). 2. See Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE). :SGI (SGI, Sunnyvale, CA, www.sgi.com) A manufacturer of workstations and servers, founded in 1982 by Jim Clark. The company was founded as Silicon Graphics, Inc., but changed to its acronym in 1999. .) is pleased to announce that an important discovery in the area of breast cancer genetics has been made by one of the Company's teams of scientific collaborators, led by Dr. Francois Rousseau of the Research Unit in Human and Molecular Genetics molecular genetics n. The branch of genetics that deals with hereditary transmission and variation on the molecular level. of St. Francois d'Assise Hospital of CHUQ CHUQ Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Quebec (Canada) . The discovery is related to the identification of a gene that protects women against breast cancer. Dr. Rousseau and collaborators, using a population genetics approach applied to the Quebec founder population, examined variants of a known gene in over 700 and found that some women carry a form of the gene that significantly decreases their risk of developing breast cancer. The results of this study are published in the prestigious scientific journal Cancer Research. Under an agreement with Laval University, SignalGene has exclusive commercial rights to this discovery, which is protected by international patent applications. "Dr. Rousseau and his collaborators have succeeded in identifying a gene that has a major impact on the risk of breast cancer in women," stated Dr. Michael Dennis, President and Chief Executive Officer of SignalGene. "This important discovery opens new avenues for the development of predictive tests and preventative therapies for breast cancer, and clearly illustrates the Company's core strategy of capturing proprietary information on disease genetics to fuel our product pipeline. This new breast cancer gene breast cancer gene(s) See BRCA1, BRCA2. forms the basis for internal efforts by SignalGene scientists to dissect dissect /dis·sect/ (di-sekt´) (di-sekt´) 1. to cut apart, or separate. 2. to expose structures of a cadaver for anatomical study. dis·sect v. the biology underlying the genetic risk and to design novel small molecule drug candidates that have potential as next-generation breast cancer therapies," concluded Dr. Dennis. As announced previously, Dr. Rousseau, Dr. Dennis and representatives of the CHUQ will discuss the findings at a press conference in Quebec City at 2:00 p.m. on Thursday August 9th 2001, followed immediately by a conference call at 4:00 p.m. SignalGene is an integrated genomics drug discovery company committed to creating value for its shareholders through the discovery, development and commercialization of high-quality drug candidates for human therapy. The Company's technologies combine genomics-based target discovery and computer-assisted drug design Computer-assisted drug design uses computational chemistry to discover, enhance, or study drugs and related biologically active molecules. Methods used can include simple molecular modeling, using molecular mechanics, molecular dynamics, semi-empirical quantum chemistry methods, ab to generate novel small molecule drug candidates. Internal programs are focused in the area of steroid hormone signaling with proprietary targets and compounds in the areas of breast cancer, osteoporosis and obesity. The shares of the Company are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange Toronto Stock Exchange (TSE) Canada's largest stock exchange, trading approximately 1,200 company stocks and 33 options. under the symbol SGI. |
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