Full Press Release Details
Subsidiary LifeMap Sciences, Inc. Announces the Launch of MalaCards
A Database of Human Diseases
ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--October 23, 2012--BioTime, Inc. (NYSE
MKT: BTX) and LifeMap Sciences, Inc. announce the launch of MalaCards,
a new database of human diseases that is based on their leading GeneCards
platform. MalaCards (www.malacards.org/) contains
computerized "cards" classifying information relating to a wide array of
human diseases. This novel research tool will aid researchers in
studying the roles of genes and cells in disease processes. MalaCards
and GeneCards were developed, and are
continuously enhanced by ongoing research, by the bioinformatics team at
the Department of Molecular Genetics at the Weizmann Institute of
Science in Israel, with Professor Doron Lancet, head of the Crown Human
Genome Center, and team leader Marilyn Safran.
GeneCards (www.genecards.org) is a
comprehensive online database that provides concise genomic information
on all known and predicted human genes. A recent GeneCards
effort greatly enhances the representation of non-protein coding RNA
genes based, among others, on the ENCODE Project, an international
collaborative effort to identify all functional elements in the human
genome sequence. With over 12 million page visits per year from hundreds
of thousands of unique users worldwide, GeneCards
is accessed by academia, research hospitals, patent offices, and leading
biotech and pharma companies. MalaCards leverages this
information to provide a comprehensive view of relationships between
diseases and their related genes.
LifeMap Sciences holds the exclusive worldwide license to market both MalaCards
and GeneCards . Later this quarter, LifeMap Sciences
will launch its LifeMap Discovery database for biomedical and
stem-cell research, and LifeMap BioReagents portal, which will
market BioTime's research product lines, including PureStem
human progenitor cell lines.
"I am gratified to see how our idea to employ the GeneCards
concept and knowhow to tackle the labyrinth of human maladies is now
being actualized," said Professor Doron Lancet, Ph.D., The Ralph D. and
Lois R. Silver Professor of Human Genomics, at the Weizmann Institute of
Science. "The consolidation of information from 35 sources to portray
more than 17,000 diseases within MalaCards promises to be as
useful as GeneCards to the world-wide biomedical community.
LifeMap Sciences' effective sponsorship ensures the viability and
success of both projects."
"We are very pleased with our collaboration with Professor Doron
Lancet's research group at the Weizmann Institute of Science, which is
in its 10th year. With the launch of MalaCards,
LifeMap Sciences has taken the next step toward completing its
comprehensive offering of cell biology, genomics, and pathology
databases for medical research," stated David Warshawsky, Ph.D., LifeMap
Sciences Chief Executive Officer. "We also look forward to completing
the platform as planned later this quarter by launching our LifeMap
Discovery product and LifeMap BioReagents portal."
About LifeMap Sciences, Inc.
LifeMap Sciences' (www.lifemapsc.com) core technology and
business is based on its integrated database suite, the discovery
platform for biomedical and stem-cell research. This platform includes GeneCards :
the leading human gene database; LifeMap Discovery , the
database of embryonic development, stem cell research and regenerative
medicine; and MalaCards, the human disease database. LifeMap
Sciences also markets PanDaTox, an innovative, 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 PureStem human progenitor cell lines, GMP human
embryonic stem (hES) cell lines, ESpan growth media for
progenitor cell lines, and cell differentiation media for
non-therapeutic uses, via its LifeMap BioReagents portal.
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 utilize LifeMap's proprietary platform, including LifeMap
Discovery, its stem cell database along with the GeneCards and
MalaCards integrated database suite, to aid in the development of
BioTime's proprietary PureStem 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 enhanced
through subsidiaries focused on specific fields of application. BioTime
develops and markets research products in the fields of stem cells and
regenerative medicine, including a wide array of proprietary PureStem
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. 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. BioTime's
subsidiary OrthoCyte Corporation is developing therapeutic applications
of stem cells to treat orthopedic diseases and injuries. Another
subsidiary, OncoCyte Corporation, focuses on the diagnostic and
therapeutic applications of stem cell technology in cancer, including