Affymetrix Launches Consortia Design Program to Create Whole-Genome Arrays for Plant and Animal Research Communities
12 January 2004 - 10:30PM
PR Newswire (US)
Affymetrix Launches Consortia Design Program to Create Whole-Genome
Arrays for Plant and Animal Research Communities SANTA CLARA,
Calif., Jan. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Affymetrix, Inc., today
announced that it is launching the GeneChip(R) Consortia Design
Program, a collaborative initiative that will bring Affymetrix and
plant and animal research communities together to create novel
whole-genome arrays. Under the new program, Affymetrix will
underwrite the design fees required to produce the new arrays,
putting industry-standard GeneChip technology within reach of
virtually any research community. Genomic community groups have
already embraced this new initiative and there are currently plans
to produce 12 new array designs under the Consortia Design Program
this year: wheat, rice, poplar, corn, pig, cow, chicken, grape,
soy, tomato, cotton and citrus. "We have selected Affymetrix as our
microarray platform of choice for the Vitis (grape) microarray
consortia because Affymetrix GeneChip arrays are robust, reliable,
easy to use, highly reproducible, and cost-effective," said John C.
Cushman, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry at the University of
Nevada, Reno and a member of the International Grape Genome
Consorita. "Affymetrix arrays use 11 probe pairs of 25 mers per
transcript giving multiple independent measurements of
hybridization. Multiple probe pairs offer the best specificity
without compromising sensitivity, and are more accurate than a
single longer oligo measurement. Not only will the data quality be
extremely high, but a single platform within the Vitis community
will allow any number of data comparisons to be made within and
across laboratories." Affymetrix has worked closely with genomic
community groups worldwide for several years, developing
Drosophila, Pseuodomonas, Arabidopsis, Barley, Xenopus and
Zebrafish whole-genome arrays via the catalog and CustomExpress(TM)
programs. By waiving the array design fee and helping these groups
with sequence selection and other design issues, the Consortia
Design Program will offer genomic community groups an opportunity
to consolidate their sequence data on the Affymetrix industry
standard array platform. "The rapidly growing number of sequences
for a wide variety of organisms, the increasing popularity of the
GeneChip array system and the success of our other collaborative
designs contributed to our decision to start the consortia
program," said Lianne McLean, Director, Gene Expression Marketing,
Affymetrix. "Perhaps the biggest factor is the way that our arrays
are being embraced by the academic community. Over 2,000 peer
reviewed papers have been published using Affymetrix technology,
with over 1,000 published just last year alone." Past consortia
designs have shown that Affymetrix collaborative design process
helps ensure that the content on the array is as comprehensive as
possible and meets the communities' needs. Additionally, engaging
the worldwide community in the design effort has prompted
researchers to include previously unpublished EST data, increasing
the total amount of information available and improving the quality
of the final design. All content and annotations from the Consortia
Design Program arrays will be hosted in the NetAffx Data Analysis
Center at http://www.affymetrix.com/. This online resource
integrates access to the data generated by Affymetrix' GeneChip
arrays with biological information available in a broad range of
public and private databases. Regular annotation updates will be
provided by Affymetrix at no cost to these communities. About
Affymetrix: Affymetrix is a pioneer in creating breakthrough tools
that are driving the genomic revolution. By applying the principles
of semiconductor technology to the life sciences, Affymetrix
develops and commercializes systems that enable scientists to
improve the quality of life. The Company's customers include
pharmaceutical, biotechnology, agrichemical, diagnostics and
consumer products companies as well as academic, government and
other non-profit research institutes. Affymetrix offers an
expanding portfolio of integrated products and services, including
its integrated GeneChip(R) platform, to address growing markets
focused on understanding the relationship between genes and human
health. Additional information on Affymetrix can be found at
http://www.affymetrix.com/. All statements in this press release
that are not historical are "forward- looking statements" within
the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act as
amended, including statements regarding Affymetrix' "expectations,"
"beliefs," "hopes," "intentions," "strategies" or the like. Such
statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause
actual results to differ materially for Affymetrix from those
projected, including, but not limited to risks of the Company's
ability to achieve and sustain higher levels of revenue, higher
gross margins, reduced operating expenses, uncertainties relating
to technological approaches, manufacturing, product development,
market acceptance (including uncertainties relating to product
development and market acceptance of the GeneChip(R) Consortia
Design Program), personnel retention, uncertainties related to cost
and pricing of Affymetrix products, dependence on collaborative
partners, uncertainties relating to sole source suppliers,
uncertainties relating to FDA and other regulatory approvals,
competition, risks relating to intellectual property of others and
the uncertainties of patent protection and litigation. These and
other risk factors are discussed in Affymetrix' Form 10-K for the
year ended December 31, 2002 and other SEC reports, including its
Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for subsequent quarterly periods.
Affymetrix expressly disclaims any obligation or undertaking to
release publicly any updates or revisions to any forward-looking
statements contained herein to reflect any change in Affymetrix'
expectations with regard thereto or any change in events,
conditions, or circumstances on which any such statements are
based. NOTE: Affymetrix, the Affymetrix logo, and GeneChip are
registered trademarks owned or used by Affymetrix, Inc. DATASOURCE:
Affymetrix CONTACT: Media, Wes Conard, Associate Director, Public
Relations, +1-408-731-5791, or Investors, Doug Farrell, Vice
President, Investor Relations, +1-408-731-5285, both of Affymetrix
Web site: http://www.affymetrix.com/
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