New Application of GeneGenius Is Helping to Identify Druggable Targets to Repair Spinal Injuries

28th October 2003 Cambridge, UK: Syngene, a world-leading manufacturer of image analysis solutions, is pleased to announce that its GeneGenius automated image analyser is allowing scientists at King’s College, London, UK a major centre for the study of spinal injuries, to improve the accuracy of their molecular biology research.

The Sensory Function Group at King’s College, London is using a GeneGenius to help determine, by using western blot analysis, if a family of proteins - already described during development as growth cone collapsing proteins - is regulated in adult spinal cord injury. Besides this application, the Group is currently using the system to check how efficiently riboprobes for use in in-situ hybridisation studies are labelled with fluorescein, as well as quantifying RT-PCR products generated from RNA. The long-term aim of this research is to identify which proteins impair axonal growth after injury, in an attempt to design treatments to alleviate and repair spinal cord injuries.

Dr. Marta Agudo, a postdoctoral fellow in the Sensory Function Group at

King's College, London explained: “We originally installed a GeneGenius because in comparison with another system we evaluated, we discovered it was easier to use and its GeneTools software produced very precise results.”

“We have been using the GeneGenius for over a year and have found automated imaging has not only significantly speeded up our research but has given us greater confidence in its accuracy,” added Dr. Agudo.

Paul Ellwood, Syngene’s Sales and Marketing Director commented: “The continuing work on spinal cord injuries at King’s College, London is very exciting and has the potential to alleviate considerable unnecessary suffering. We are very pleased to see our GeneGenius making such a valuable contribution to this worthwhile research.”

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Note to Editors

About Syngene

Syngene is a world-leading supplier of integrated imaging solutions for analysis and documentation of gel-based information. Syngene’s systems are used by more than 10,000 research organisations and over 50,000 individual scientists world-wide and include many of the world’s top pharmaceutical companies and major research institutes.

Syngene, founded in 1997, is a division of the Synoptics Group based in Cambridge, UK. The Group’s other divisions, Syncroscopy and Synbiosis, specialise in digital imaging solutions for microscopy and microbial applications respectively. Synoptics currently employs 55 people in its UK and subsidiary operation in Frederick, USA. The Group has profitable revenue of almost $10 million and continues to grow rapidly.

About the Sensory Function Group

The Sensory Function Group at King’s College, London studies the cellular and molecular function of neurones and glia, to understand the basic mechanisms that underlie restoring the function of a damaged nervous system. Major research interests include: the response of the central nervous system (CNS) and peripheral nervous system (PNS) to nerve injury and the role glial cells play in nerve injury and repair. Also how olfactory ensheathing and neural stem cells impact on nerve repair; and what roles neurotransmitters, ion conductances, cytokines, trophic factors and receptor activated signalling cascades have in neuronal injury and degeneration.