31-May-2000

Cybergenetics Awarded Lane Tracking Patent

(BW HealthWire)–Cybergenetics has been awarded a US patent for its lane tracking innovations in automated DNA fragment analysis. The invention has use in genetic and forensic science for high quality, low cost, computer based data analysis.

"This new patent establishes Cybergenetics leadership in innovating genetic data scoring automation," says Dr. Mark Perlin, CEO of Cybergenetics. "Our TrueAllele(TM) technology was the first to automatically track gel-based DNA fragment data. Automated gel tracking saves considerable time, and improves data quality." The recently issued US 6,054,268 broadly protects automated lane tracking functionality, and includes claims on genes discovered via such automation.

Translating DNA signals into useful information is currently a labor-intensive task that accounts for over half the cost of generating STR-based DNA data. Cybergenetics TrueAllele software overcomes this exhausting data review bottleneck by providing an automated expert system that replicates and replaces current human expertise. Cybergenetics' powerful technology accelerates genetic discovery and forensic DNA databasing, while reducing costs significantly.

"TrueAllele automates DNA data review in many ways," says Dr. Perlin. "With good data, Cybergenetics' expert system largely eliminates human involvement. With problematic data, TrueAllele identifies the problem, and provides feedback to help improve data quality."

Cybergenetics' four TrueAllele patents (US 5,541,067, 5,580,728, 5,876,933, and 6,054,268) are described at www.cybgen.com (see "technology"). These patents have broad and deep claims covering every aspect of automated STR analysis, including quality assurance (e.g., data error, genotype accuracy, and quality measures), and removing PCR stutter and other data artifacts. The patents reach through to genes and other genetic discoveries. Scientists who use software to automatically score their data should license the TrueAllele technology to protect their findings.

TrueAllele automatically analyzes STR data from capillary and gel-based DNA sequencers. Data quality rules and rankings assess the quality of every genotype. The program runs on Macintosh, Windows and UNIX computers. Evaluation software can be downloaded from www.cybgen.com (see "software"). TrueAllele users include the Forensic Science Service and SmithKline Beecham in the UK, and deCODE genetics in Iceland.

Cybergenetics is a bioinformation company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that develops unique computational approaches for forensic and genetic research. Cybergenetics is committed to providing effective software systems that accelerate and simplify genetic discovery.

© Cybergenetics 1998-2000. All rights reserved.