Basel, 2001/11/30

Genedata today announced the release of Genedata Expressionist Suite 3.1, an enterprise bioinformatics system for storing and analyzing large volumes of gene expression data. Version 3.1 of Genedata Expressionist has additional capabilities for data quality assurance, data management and data analysis. Some highlights are:

+ Gene Classifier, a revolutionary system for flexible integration of additional information on experiments and genes. It supports the integration of gene annotation information, pathways, clinical data, toxicological data and other related information and can be made available from within existing visualizers and tables.

+ A highly-interactive, multi-dimensional principal component analysis for identifying major trends within complex experimental data sets. Typical applications include gene and experiment discrimination, disease diagnostics, time series and dose-response experiments.

+ Tools for the automatic generation of reference databases with applications in toxicology, mode-of-action studies and other pharmaceutical applications.

+ A system for high-throughput data quality assurance for both Affymetrix GeneChip® and spotted arrays to meet the needs of microarray core facilities.

In April 2001, Genedata and Affymetrix, Inc. announced a non-exclusive co-marketing agreement for the Genedata Expressionist software. Since then, the two companies have been cooperating to offer high-throughput users of Affymetrix arrays a well integrated, enterprise-scale solution to meet their data storage and analysis needs. The release of Expressionist Suite 3.1 represents an important milestone in the relationship, including tighter integration with Affymetrix LIMS software and NetAffx website, and enhancements in the data quality assurance module for Affymetrix arrays. Peter Dansky, Senior Director of Informatics Marketing at Affymetrix states, "We are impressed with the rapid pace of Genedata's software development in response to Affymetrix technology transitions and emerging customer needs. Our high-throughput customers will benefit from the improved degree of integration and the availability of sophisticated analysis tools that have been optimized for Affymetrix array data."

"Genedata's tradition in providing cutting edge analysis software for in-silico based functional genomics research, together with extensive customization services makes us the ideal partner for customers seeking powerful networked solutions." says Dr. Andreas Hohn, Genedata's Senior Director of Marketing and Business Development. "With this version we specifically address the needs of microarray users who intend to analyze thousands of arrays and provide analysis capability to a large user base, such as multinational companies and large academic networks."

The Genedata Expressionist Suite combines high-performance, scalability, excellence in statistical analysis and visualization tools, and ease-of-use that are essential for today's highly networked life science research organizations. This Java- and Oracle-based software readily integrates into any existing data management architecture and can be tailored to meet the specific needs of pharmaceutical, agrochemical and biotechnology industries.