Ontogeny To Screen Assays Using Tropix Program

N/Any Inc. and <%=company%> Biosystems' Tropix have entered into a drug screening partnership to identify pathways critical to a number of significant diseases, including osteoarthritis, diabetes and cancer.

A number of assays developed by Ontogeny are being transferred to Tropix for ultra-high-throughput screening under its Xtreme Screen program, which will facilitate the screening of various sources of biological and chemical diversity. The aim is to identify classes of small molecule leads and extract value from Ontogeny's programs, including the use of small molecule receptors and pathways. Tropix will screen large combinatorial compound libraries for activity against Ontogeny's unique biological targets.

Tropix's Xtreme Screen assay development group will then work to automate Ontogeny's assays, optimizing them to run under ultra-high-throughput screening conditions. The screening assays employ automation systems that recently enabled Tropix to reach the milestone of processing 100,000 discrete assays in a single day, performing a 15-step screening assay. The results provided by Tropix under this agreement are expected to enhance Ontogeny's drug discovery capabilities.

For more information: Raul Rodriguez, Ontogeny Inc., 45 Moulton Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. Telephone: 617-876-0086 ext. 232. Fax: 617-876-0866.