20/20 GeneSystems Launches New Proteomics Product

Marks First New Proteomics Technology to Enter the Marketplace This Century

ROCKVILLE, MD – October 2, 2001 – 20/20 GeneSystems, Inc. (20/20), developer of a proprietary layered proteomics technology for pharmaceutical research and laboratory medicine, is officially launching its product on October 3^rd at the Biotechnology Industry Organization’s BIO Venture Forum in Washington D.C. 20/20’s new proteomics technology was extensively beta tested this summer at over twenty-four leading research institutions including Johns Hopkins and Duke University, and is one of the first new technologies in the rapidly growing field of proteomics to go on the market.  20/20 has already begun taking orders and shipping the first products.

“This product will be extremely valuable in protein analysis, especially for processes such as screening large numbers of antibodies,” said Dr. Stephen Wolniak, a professor of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics at the University of Maryland and a beta-tester for the 20/20 technology.  “It will provide the opportunity to do experiments on a much bigger scale.”

Proteomics is the study of the complete set of proteins expressed in a cell. Proteins act in an “assembly line” manner within cells to carry out most functions required of living organisms including growth, healing, and communication. The majority of diseases – including cancer and most neurological and inflammatory disorders – result from abnormalities to one or more proteins in the assembly line. 

20/20’s layered proteomics technology is among the first techniques for simultaneously screening the activation levels, quantities, and locations of numerous proteins in tissue from a single biological sample. The screening is generally done using three proprietary components: a membrane stack that is applied to the sample, a transfer solution for moving the proteins onto the stack, and image analysis software for combining the images generated by each layer to produce a proteomic profile of the sample.

The first product is being sold to biomedical researchers at universities, federal labs, and in biotechnology companies.  It is intended to be applied to electrophoresis gels that are routinely used by an estimated 100,000 scientists worldwide to separate proteins and nucleic acids in biological samples.  20/20’s product for protein gels provides up to ten times as much information as that provided by standard Western blotting approaches in the same amount of time. 

In addition to selling products to biomedical researchers, the company is utilizing variants of layered proteomics in-house for collaborations with pharmaceutical companies in the areas of target validation and clinical trials assay development.  Eventually layered proteomics will be used in clinical diagnostics to help tailor drugs to patients based on their disease proteome.  20/20 also recently began development of a rapid deployable multi-pathogen detection kit for use in bioterrorism defense.

About 20/20 GeneSystems, Inc.

20/20 GeneSystems (www.2020gene.com), based in Rockville, MD, was founded in May 2000 to co-develop the layered proteomics technology with the National Cancer Institute.  The privately-held company maintains exclusive rights to this technology.

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