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Merial Selects Genostar's IOGMA Metabolic Pathway Builder Bioinformatics
Software
New package to aid understanding of pathogens causing animal diseases
Paris, France, April 17, 2008 - Genostar, a developer of bioinformatics software
that enables biologists and bioinformaticians to expertly mine and analyze
diverse biological data, today announced that Merial, a world leader in animal
health, has purchased its IOGMA(R) 3.4 Metabolic Pathway Builder software.
Genostar's IOGMA(R) 3.4 Metabolic Pathway Builder is a new package that
integrates three modules of the company's successful bioinformatics products -
GenoAnnot, ProteoAnnot, and PathwayExplorer. The package offers a number of
different tools used to analyze high throughput bacterial genome, protein, and
metabolism (-omics) data. It is designed to reduce laboratory costs and
accelerate discovery results.
Another key benefit of the package consists of Genostar's microB, a managed
database of more than 450 microbial organisms, sourced and then standardized
from many commonly used but very differently organized reference databases
around the world. MicroB's coordinated data will help Merial access large
amounts of cross-linked genome, protein, and metabolic data fast and
efficiently. This is a significant step forward for researchers looking to
access and use data easily.
"With IOGMA 3.4 Metabolic Pathway Builder in our labs, our research teams now
have access to improved tools and data that allow us to increase our
productivity in our innovative research programs," said Dr. Jean-Christophe
Audonnet, Senior Director, Discovery Research, Vaccinomics and Recombinant
Vaccines at Merial. "This added expertise will maintain Merial's position as the
leading company in veterinary vaccinology."
Designed to analyze various microorganism strains, IOGMA 3.4 enables biologists
to investigate, for example, virulent, disease-causing pathogens. This type of
research could potentially lead to strategies to prevent catastrophic diseases
due to viruses, bacteria or parasites in domestic or wild animals.
"New discovery techniques through bioinformatics are being actively sought by
vaccine developers," said Jean-François Mouret, Director of Business Development
at Genostar. "By using our IOGMA 3.4 Metabolic Pathway Builder, pharmaceutical
research teams will save on laboratory development costs, and bring results to
their customers sooner."
New capabilities that come with IOGMA 3.4 Metabolic Pathway Builder
bioinformatics software include:
A client-server version that allows collaborative life sciences teams to carry
out research on the same, shared data
Enhancement of the software tools with the integration of MUMmer, a commonly
used open-source bioinformatics analysis tool. This capability permits
researchers to compare genomes of different species or strains of
micro-organisms.
About Genostar
Genostar, a developer of bioinformatics software and a bioinformatics
services provider, enables biologists and bioinformaticians to expertly mine and
analyze diverse biological data for antibacterial vaccine development,
biofactories, and other prokaryotic biotechnology applications. The company's
leading software suite, IOGMA(R), is one of the first product suites of its kind
to offer an integrated, interactive bioinformatics tool for systems biology to
allow researchers to better understand cellular processes.
Understanding cellular processes is important for creating vaccines and other
tools to combat bacterial diseases, for metabolic studies of interest to the
agri-food industry, and for developing "cellular factories" whose metabolic
processes can be used to "manufacture" specific molecules (e.g., vaccines and
other pharmaceuticals). IOGMA has been proven at prominent research institutions
in Europe, including INRIA, the French informatics research institute, as well
as by other groups, for the qualitative modeling of bacterial and other
regulatory networks, including the Eindhoven University of Technology in the
Netherlands and at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.
Privatized in 2004, Genostar's head office is in Paris and the R&D, technical
support and sales teams are located in Montbonnot, near Grenoble, France. Visit:
www.genostar.com
For further information, please contact:
Andrew Lloyd & Associates
Carol Leslie / Neil Hunter
Tel: +44 1273 675100
carol@ala.com /
neil@ala.com
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