DETROIT ? Tissue bank Asterand is offering medical researchers the ability to obtain gene expression data through its new online gateway called Xpressway, the result of almost ten years of work by an Asterand team that specializes in human tissue-based research.
Xpressway will help medical researchers understand which
genes are expressed in different parts of the body. Researchers will also
be able to see how the gene expression in different human tissue types
matches with the gene expression pattern in animals.
The data can help researchers validate a gene or genes that are being
considered as targets for new drugs; it can help in assessing the problems
associated with possible side effects, and it can also help researchers
decide if human tissue research can replace or augment work currently
conducted in animal models.
“The Xpressway profiles we provide can help researchers make
important decisions in the early stages of drug discovery and development,”
said Vici Blanc, Asterand Director of Product Development. “At the moment it
takes 15 years and costs over $800 million to bring a new drug to market.
Researchers can speed the process and cut the cost by understanding how
specific genes are expressed in a range of tissues throughout the body.?
So far Asterand has mapped over 2,000 genes in 72 tissue types found
throughout the human body. The work began in the late 1990s at the
company’s European laboratories in Royston, England under the direction of the direction of Robert Coleman, and still continues. Asterand collects ethically
consented human tissue samples from a worldwide network of over 70 major hospitals and clinics in Europe, North America, the Mediterranean, Africa and Asia.
“We have priced the service at a level that will be affordable to
academic, government and commercial researchers,” Blanc said. “The
profiling of a single gene can be purchased by credit card for under
$1,000.”
For more information, click on Asterand.Com
