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13/02/2004

Open Biosystems distributes Red/ET Kits in USA & Canada

Gene Bridges Announces Distribution Agreement with Open Biosystems in USA for Red/ET Recombineering Kits.

Dresden, Germany, February 13, 2004: Gene Bridges GmbH announced today, that Open Biosystems Inc., Huntsville, USA, has concluded a distribution agreement for Gene Bridges’ Red/ET Recombineering Kits in USA & Canada. The partnership with a strong systems biology supplier like Open Biosystems will greatly increase the availability of our Red/ET Recombineering Kits in North America says Gary Stevens, CEO of Gene Bridges. Red/ET Recombineering, also known as ET cloning or Lambda-mediated cloning, allows DNA constructs to be designed and created without size or site restrictions. The agreement includes the distribution of kits for BAC Modification, BAC Counter-Selection and BAC Subcloning. All kits are available to non-commercial, research organisations. Commercial companies require a license from Gene Bridges.

Open Biosystems sees the Red/ET kits as an ideal complement to our range of BAC libraries. Together they represent the key resources necessary for researchers to produce transgenic models with unprecedented ease, comments Open Biosystems’ Chief Technology Officer, Troy Moore. Now investigators can easily select and quickly obtain the BAC genomic sequence paired with the Red/ET kits for rapid production of transgenic constructs rather than laboring through the time-consuming process of subcloning and ligations. The Red/ET product line further extends Open Biosystems’ portfolio of products that expand investigators access to tools for systems biology.

About Red/ET Technology

Red/ET Recombineering is a novel DNA Engineering technology and which represents a breakthrough in DNA cloning and mutagenesis with regard to size, precise manipulation and modification of DNA molecules: Red/ET Recombineering enables the cloning of much larger DNA sequences. Traditional cloning technologies are limited to sequences approaching 20 kilo bases (kb), with Red/ET sequences of well over 200 kb can be cloned. Cloning with Red/ET Recombineering is much more precise than in vitro processes. This in vivo technology uses the endogenous proofreading and repair mechanisms of the bacterium cell and therefore avoids PCR derived in vitro mutagenesis. Red/ET allows precise modifications at any chosen position of the DNA molecule. Insertions, deletions or point mutations can be performed at any point of the molecule since Red/ET works independent of inconvenient restriction sites. Red/ET makes DNA engineering simple and faster because the cloning of the target DNA is a one step procedure. BAC modifications can be performed in 2 weeks with Red/ET versus 3 months using conventional methods.

About Gene Bridges

Gene Bridges GmbH is a self-funded, biotech company which develops innovative DNA engineering technologies. Gene Bridges commercializes its exclusive rights of the patented Red/ET Recombineering technology worldwide by DNA services, licenses and products. The company was founded in 2000 as a spin-off of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) and moved to Dresden in 2001. The management team includes Prof. A. Francis Stewart, PhD, and Youming Zhang, PhD, the inventors of Red/ET Recombineering, and Gary Stevens, a business economist.

About Open Biosystems

Open Biosystems, Inc. develops and markets tools for systems biology to corporate, academic and government research institutions. These tools provide life science investigators with access to North Americas largest repository of genes, genomic clones and reverse genetics resources and are used for genomics-based drug discovery and developmental biology programs.