Full Press Release Details
and Subsidiary LifeMap Sciences, Inc. Announce Release of GeneCards
ALAMEDA, Calif. & CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 23,
2012--XenneX, a Division of LifeMap Sciences, Inc. and BioTime, Inc.
(NYSE Amex:BTX), announced today the release of GeneCards ,
Version 3.08, on May 20, 2012. The new release is available at www.genecards.org.
The new GeneCards release includes more than 94,500 gene
entries. One of the important enhancements is the display of about
52,000 non-protein-coding RNA genes, more than tripling the previous
count, thus affording a new vista of this ground-breaking category of
human genes. A second novel feature is a vast expansion of the mutual
similarity space for human genes, employing powerful gene sequence
alignments. GeneCards now also shows considerably expanded
tissue proteome abundance diagrams. Further, the pathways section has
been expanded to six data sources, thus allowing a much better view of
cellular gene networks. Further enhancements include a better disease
section, more finely-tuned advanced search and batch query (GeneALaCart)
and new gene-related research reagents, including human, mouse and rat
products from a variety of providers.
Separately, LifeMap Sciences has recently announced that it has entered
into a license agreement with Yeda Research and Development Company Ltd,
the technology transfer arm of the Weizmann Institute of Science, to
market the new MalaCards database of human diseases. GeneCards
and MalaCards will contain mutual links, which will be available
later this year. In July, MalaCards will be presented in a "Late
Breaking Research" talk at the International Society for Computational
Biology 2012, in Long Beach, California.
Dr. David Warshawsky, President and CEO of LifeMap Sciences, stated: "We
are delighted to see the continued improvement of GeneCards
features and content and now also the establishment of MalaCards.
The synergy between GeneCards and MalaCards is
going to enhance basic research as well as the discovery and
development of diagnostics and therapeutics."
GeneCards (http://www.genecards.org/) is a
searchable, integrated database of human genes that provides concise
genomic, transcriptomic, genetic, proteomic, functional, and
disease-related information on all known and predicted human genes.
Information is featured in 20 GeneCards sections and includes
orthologies, disease relationships, mutations and SNPs, gene expression,
gene function, pathways, protein-protein interactions, related drugs and
compounds and direct links to valuable research products such as
antibodies, recombinant proteins, nucleic acids, expression assays, and
RNAi-related products. GeneCards was developed over the last 15
years by a world-leading bioinformatics team led by Professor Doron
Lancet at the Department of Molecular Genetics, Head of the Crown Human
Genome Center of the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel with team
leader Marilyn Safran.
About LifeMap Sciences, Inc.
LifeMap Sciences' (www.lifemapsc.com) core technology and
business is based on its integrated database suite, The go-to
discovery and marketing platform for biomedical and stem-cell research.
This platform will include GeneCards : the
leading human gene database; the LifeMap database of
embryonic development, stem cell research and regenerative medicine; and MalaCards,
the human disease database. LifeMap Sciences also markets PanDaTox,
a recently developed, searchable database that can aid in the discovery
of new antibiotics and biotechnologically beneficial products.
In addition to database offerings, BioTime plans to make LifeMap
Sciences BioTime's principal marketing subsidiary for research products,
including ACTCellerate human progenitor cell lines, GMP human
embryonic stem (hES) cell lines, hES cell lines carrying inherited
genetic diseases, and ESpan growth media for progenitor cell lines for
non-therapeutic uses. LifeMap Sciences will utilize its databases as
part of its online marketing strategy to reach life sciences researchers
at biotech and pharmaceutical companies and at academic institutions and
research hospitals worldwide.
In a therapeutic discovery collaboration with BioTime, LifeMap's
scientists will utilize LifeMap's proprietary discovery platform and
stem cell database along with the GeneCards and
MalaCards integrated database suite, to aid in the development of
BioTime's proprietary ACTCellerate human progenitor
cell lines into products for the treatment of human diseases, especially
degenerative diseases that might be treatable with cell replacement
therapies. The LifeMap discovery platform will be used to
select the progenitor cell lines that are most likely to be useful in
developing cell-based regenerative medicine therapies for a wide range
BioTime, headquartered in Alameda, California, is a biotechnology
company focused on regenerative medicine and blood plasma volume
expanders. Its broad platform of stem cell technologies is developed
through subsidiaries focused on specific fields of applications. BioTime
develops and markets research products in the field of stem cells and
regenerative medicine, including a wide array of proprietary ACTCellerate
cell lines, HyStem hydrogels, culture media, and
differentiation kits. BioTime is developing Renevia (formerly
known as HyStem -Rx), a
biocompatible, implantable hyaluronan and collagen-based matrix for cell
delivery in human clinical applications. As an injectable product, Renevia
may address an immediate need in cosmetic and reconstructive surgeries
and other procedures by improving the process of transplanting adipose
derived cells, mesenchymal stem cells, or other adult stem cells.
BioTime's wholly owned subsidiary ES Cell International Pte. Ltd. has
produced clinical-grade human embryonic stem cell lines that were
derived following principles of Good Manufacturing Practice and
currently offers them for use in research. BioTime's therapeutic product
development strategy is pursued through subsidiaries that focus on
specific organ systems and related diseases for which there is a high
unmet medical need. BioTime's majority owned subsidiary Cell Cure
Neurosciences, Ltd. is developing therapeutic products derived from stem
cells for the treatment of retinal and neural degenerative diseases.
Cell Cure's minority shareholder Teva Pharmaceutical Industries has an
option to clinically develop and commercialize Cell Cure's OpRegen