Structural Bioinformatics Inc. elects Dr. Arthur J. Olson and Dr. Douglas Smith to its Scientific Advisory Board.

SAN DIEGO--(HealthWire)--Jan. 17, 1997--Structural Bioinformatics Inc. (SBI), developer of leading-edge, supercomputer- based technology for rapid conversion of novel gene-sequence information into protein structural information and drug-lead compounds, announced that Dr. Arthur J. Olson, professor of molecular biology and director of molecular graphics laboratory at The Scripps Research Institute, and Dr. Douglas Smith, professor of biology at the University of California, San Diego, have joined Structural Bioinformatics' Scientific Advisory Board of leading bioinformatics, protein structure and internationally recognized pharmaceutical industry experts.

Olson, holder of the Anderson Research Chair in the department of molecular biology, has focused his research efforts on the development and application of computational and computer-graphic methodology to the study of biological macromolecules. His focus is on the analysis and prediction of protein structure and substrate protein interactions especially as they relate to the design of bioactive agents.

Olson serves on a number of advisory panels, including the San Diego Supercomputing Center Steering Committee, the Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center Biomedical Advisory Committee, the Executive Committee of the Molecular Graphics and Modeling Society of the Americas and The Scripps Research Institute Counsel of Staff.

Olson also serves on the editorial advisory board of a number of internationally recognized journals in the computational-chemistry and molecular-graphics fields.

Smith, a biophysicist, is a well-recognized leader in the field of bioinformatics and genome analysis. His research is focused on development of computer algorithms for gene identification in new, very large gene sequences using parallel-processing approaches, development of novel computational approaches for accelerating gene analysis, cloning and sequencing.

Smith has written numerous books and scientific publications in the fields of genomics, bioinformatics and biocomputing and is a member of the bioinformatics Scientific Advisory Board of SmithKline Beecham, a well-recognized leader in the application of genomics and bioinformatics drug design.

Structural Bioinformatics has developed a supercomputational operating system making possible the immediate and practical use of genomic (gene sequence) data in a broad range of structure-based drug discovery and design processes leading to the rapid design and identification of small molecule lead compounds.

SBI is building corporate partnerships with pharmaceutical companies, gene-discovery companies and combinatorial-chemistry companies ranging from broad technology collaborations to assistance with specific drug targets or target groups.

CONTACT: Structural Bioinformatics Inc., San Diego

Susan K. Burgess, 619/675-2400