"The latest enhancements to CDS should enable subscribers to more easily apply comparative genomics to their discovery process and to better understand the roles of genes in the context of evolutionary conservation," said Deborah Smeltzer, Vice President of the Knowledge Business for Applied Biosystems. "Applied Biosystems and Celera Genomics have made significant investments in data aggregation, validation, curation, classification, quality assurance, and have further integrated public reference data. We believe our subscribers will save time and costs through online access to an integrated set of high-quality data and analysis tools that eliminate the need for data infrastructure development and maintenance."
New subscriptions to the Celera Discovery System online platform will now be available to researchers at academic and non-profit institutions through a single-user, one-year subscription agreement. These researchers can easily begin the subscription process online through the CDS website, available at http://www.celeradiscoverysystem.com.
Applied Biosystems and Celera Genomics are collaborating to integrate Celera's genomic and biological information with Applied Biosystems' products and services. CDS subscribers can now order the Applied Biosystems Assays-on-Demand™ products, ready-to-use, functionally validated assays for genotyping and gene expression analysis, within the context of their analysis results using CDS.
The new release of CDS includes an updated interactive Map Viewer, which provides enhanced and customizable graphical displays for comparing human and mouse genes within their genomic context. The Map Viewer also now enables subscribers to conduct BLAST searches in batch mode and to customize views of data from the entire chromosome to the single nucleotide level. These enhancements are intended to facilitate high-throughput analysis and should enable subscribers to analyze biological relationships within any region of the human or mouse genomes.
Additional Enhancements:
About the Celera Discovery System Online Platform (CDS)
CDS is a web-based discovery platform that provides scientists with access to a comprehensive source of integrated, curated and validated proprietary and public biological data, including annotated human and mouse genomes. In April 2002, Celera Genomics and Applied Biosystems entered into a marketing and distribution agreement under which Applied Biosystems became the exclusive marketer of CDS and related information assets. More than 250 institutions worldwide currently subscribe to CDS, including pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, as well as academic organizations.
About Applera Corporation and Applied Biosystems
Applera Corporation comprises two operating groups. The Applied Biosystems Group develops and markets instrument-based systems, reagents, software, and contract services to the life science industry and research community. Customers use these tools to analyze nucleic acids (DNA and RNA), small molecules, and proteins to make scientific discoveries, develop new pharmaceuticals, and conduct standardized testing. Applied Biosystems is headquartered in Foster City, CA, and reported sales of $1.6 billion during fiscal 2002. The Celera Genomics Group, located in Rockville, MD, and South San Francisco, CA, is engaged principally in integrating advanced technologies to discover and develop new therapeutics. Celera intends to leverage its proteomic, bioinformatic, and genomic capabilities to identify and validate drug targets and diagnostic marker candidates, and to discover and develop new therapeutics. Its Celera Discovery System™ online platform, marketed exclusively through the Applied Biosystems Knowledge Business, is an integrated source of information based on the human genome and other biological and medical sources. Celera Diagnostics, a 50/50 joint venture between Applied Biosystems and Celera Genomics, is focused on discovery, development, and commercialization of novel diagnostics products. Information about Applera Corporation, including reports and other information filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.applera.com, or by telephoning 800-762-6923. Information about Applied Biosystems is available on the World Wide Web at http://www.appliedbiosystems.com.
Certain statements in this press release are forward-looking. These may be identified by the use of forward-looking words or phrases such as "should," and "intend" among others. These forward-looking statements are based on Applera Corporation's current expectations. The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a "safe harbor" for such forward-looking statements. In order to comply with the terms of the safe harbor, Applera Corporation notes that a variety of factors could cause actual results and experience to differ materially from the anticipated results or other expectations expressed in such forward-looking statements. These factors include but are not limited to: (1) rapidly changing technology could adversely affect demand for Applied Biosystems' products, and its business is dependent on development of new products; (2) uncertainty of successful integration of the Celera Discovery System™ online platform into the Applied Biosystems Knowledge Business and market acceptance and adoption of Knowledge Business product offerings; (3) Applied Biosystems' sales are dependent on customers' capital spending policies and government-sponsored research; (4) the Applied Biosystems Knowledge Business' dependence on the operation of computer hardware, software, and Internet applications and related technology; (5) unproven use of genomics information to develop products, and (6) other factors that might be described from time to time in Applera Corporation's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, and Applera does not undertake any duty to update this information, including any forward-looking statements, unless required by law.
Copyright© 2003. Applera Corporation. All rights reserved. Applied Biosystems is a registered trademark and Applera, Assays-on-Demand, Celera, Celera Diagnostics, Celera Discovery System and Celera Genomics are trademarks of Applera Corporation or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and certain other countries.