Ocimum Biosolutions Collaborates with Hospital for Joint Diseases (HJD), New York, for Analysis of Translational Genomic Data In Musculoskeletal Diseases

Costa Mesa, USA, July 7, 2003-- Ocimum Biosolutions announces a collaboration with the Hospital of Joint Diseases (HJD) to analyze HJD’s Musculoskeletal Diseases Data using its microarray analysis tool Genowiz^TM.

Ocimum’s CEO Anuradha Acharya commented, “This partnership will enhance our capabilities in analyzing expression data and fine tuning our product, Genowiz^TM.  We are also participating in cutting edge research with one of the world’s foremost research groups in rheumatoid arthritis.”  HJD’s Dr. Ashok Amin, Director of the Rheumatology Research Laboratory and Laboratory for Functional and Pharmacogenomics, said, “Data analysis (storage, integration, annotation, statistical analysis and clustering) is a challenging task in this uncharted area of translational genomics.  Ocimum Biosolutions has the tools to tackle the complexity.  Dr. Steven Abramson (Chairman, Department of Rheumatology at HJD and New York University (NYU) Medical Center) and I are committed to exploring the hope and metamorphosis that pharmacogenomics brings into molecular medicine.”

Genowiz^TM is a gene expression analysis and tracking tool that enables researchers to analyze microarray data in an intuitive and comprehensive bio-environment.  It includes novel quantification matrices and algorithms that facilitate expression pattern analysis and metabolic pathway insights.  It offers easy to use customizable interface and integration of biotools and laboratory information management system (LIMS).

About Ocimum Biosolutions

Ocimum Biosolutions is an ISO 9001:2000 certified life sciences contract R&D Company with competencies in LIMS and Bioinformatics and operations in the USA and India.  Ocimum Biosolutions is a Delaware registered company with its operations at Costa Mesa, California.  The Indian arm of Ocimum Biosolutions is located at Hyderabad .  

For more information please visit www.ocimumbio.com

About The Hospital for Joint Diseases

The Hospital for Joint Diseases Orthopaedic Institute is a voluntary, not-for-profit, 216-bed hospital founded in 1905 by the brothers Henry and Herman Frauenthal, physicians with the mission of "bringing relief through care to orthopaedic problems of children.”  HJD is a specialty medical hospital with expertise in orthopaedic surgery, rheumatology and molecular medicine, rehabilitation medicine and neurology.  HJD is a teaching hospital for the NYU School of Medicine.  For more information please visit www.jointdiseases.com. 

Contact:

Subash Lingareddy (subash@ocimumbio.com)

(866)227-7512

Ashok R. Amin (Ashok.amin@med.nyu.edu)- (212) 598-6537

Hospital for Joint Diseases