Protagen AG - Powerful protein biochips for antibody development

Dortmund, Germany (September 6, 2005) - With the new UNIchip® family, Protagen AG, Dortmund (Germany), is realizing its strategic objective of further distinguishing itself as development partner for life science industries. The first two protein biochips, UNIchip® AV-400 and UNIchip® AV-VAR, are already available. These newly developed products are high-density protein microarrays primarily designed for antibody validation, but can also be used with antibody-like molecules (e.g. affibodies, aptamers).

The UNIchip® AV-400 contains 400 pre-defined and purified human proteins on a nitrocellulose-coated glass slide, which represent a cross section of all cellular proteins. In contrast the AV-VAR is a highly specialised tool as its 400 proteins are focused on different gene ontology (GO) classes, which can be chosen by the customer.

Who will benefit from UNIchip® family?

Monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) in particular have revolutionized biological research and clinical diagnostics. Furthermore, mAbs have been the decisive tool in biomedical research and will be even more in the future, since initiatives around the world for the elucidation of the human proteome (e.g. HUPO) are searching for the human anti-proteome (antibodies against each and every human protein). This fast growing market will benefit from reliable and affordable tools like the UNIchip® family for safe and rapid antibody development.

As antibodies are used extensively as diagnostic and clinical tools, the characterisation of their binding specificity is of prime importance. Additionally, well-characterized antibodies are essential for the generation of antibody arrays. With the UNIchip® family, Protagen AG has developed powerful and efficient research tools to meet the needs of the growing antibody market.

Using the new biochips, the sensitivity, dynamic range, detection limit, and cross reactivity of antibodies can be successfully determined in one single experiment. This makes the biochips invaluable research tools by facilitating and accelerating antibody development and lowering development time and costs at the same time. Furthermore, the usage of UNIchips enables an early selection of the correct development candidate.

One of the major challenges in protein biochip production is the availability of high quality content. The proteins printed on the new microarrays derive from Protagen AG's UNIclone® technology. With UNIclone® different human expression libraries (=UNIclone® sets) have been generated, which currently contain more than 10,000 non-redundant re-combinant human clones.

This technology platform is unique in the generation of content for protein biochips, eliminating a major bottle neck in protein microarray technology. Protagen AG therefore has in-house capabilities for performing studies for finding biomarkers or the design of new biochip tools for molecular diagnostics.

Easy and convenient entry into new UNIchip® family

Protagen AG offers a comprehensive antibody validation and specification service. This full service package includes study design, protein biochip production, scanning and analysis service and will provide the customer with a detailed report of all results.

Protagen AG will intensify and speed up the development of additional protein biochips for biomarker discovery and for diagnostic applications like serum profiling, patient stratification or therapy monitoring.

About Protagen AG:
Based in Dortmund, Germany, Protagen AG is counted among the world¹s leading biotechnology companies. The company, established in 1997, consistently translates the latest technologies in proteomics, protein biochips, and bioinformatics into services and products from which the entire life science industry and research institutes can profit. The current market position has been achieved by a corporate policy that is marked by quality concepts in addition to outstanding knowledge. The team at Protagen AG thus consistently strives towards the goal of always bringing the best possible quality in services and products to the market. On this foundation, Protagen AG can and will continue to grow with its customers.


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Further information:

Protagen AG
Dr. Matthias Kalbas
Otto-Hahn-Str. 15
44227 Dortmund
Tel.: +49 231 97 42 6300
Fax: +49 231 97 42 6301
www.protagen.de