eGene’s HDA-GT12(TM) System Used by City of Hope National Medical Center for Automated HLA Genotyping for Genetic Matching of Bone Marrow
IRVINE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Aug. 7, 2006–eGene Inc. (OTCBB:EGEI), developer of a revolutionary high-performance genetic analysis technology, announced today that HLA Laboratory in City of Hope National Medical Center (City of Hope, Calif.) has used eGene’s HDA-GT12(TM) System for automated HLA genotyping for matching of bone marrow transplants.
“We are using eGene’s automated HDA-GT12(TM) genetic analyzer that replaces our current manual agarose gel electrophoresis process for high-resolution HLA SSP (sequence specific primer) genotyping,” said Dr. David Senitzer, the director of the HLA Laboratory. “This highly sensitive system only consumes less than one microliter of DNA samples for each analysis and drastically reduces biohazardous waste. It eliminates tedious manual pipetting process of thousands of DNA samples into agarose gels in our daily routine work and provides high-quality images of digital data from sample handling to data management. eGene provides a great opportunity to increase the use of automation for high-resolution HLA genotyping, which has been our goal for the future of HLA genotyping.”
Ming S. Liu, CEO of eGene, noted: “HLA genotyping is urgently needed for cancer treatment since it provides bone marrow matching information. It is exciting to provide HLA genotyping application with our HDA-GT12(TM) System. I think our compact, automated high throughput digital genetic analyzer can transform the current manual HLA genotyping process using traditional gel electrophoresis into an automatic new era.”
“I believe our HDA system could be adopted easily in many laboratories doing HLA genotyping work,” he continued. “We have also seen increased demand for genotyping work in the field of molecular diagnostics, and more users are integrating our HDA-GT12 system in their routine genotyping analysis,” Dr. Liu said.
The HDA-GT12(TM) Genetic Analyzer is in use at more than 100 hospitals and research centers worldwide. The system analyzes the genetic fingerprints of living organisms through microsatellites, AFLP and RFLP. It performs fast DNA sample screening and high-resolution DNA fragment analysis (2-5bp). The system also analyzes the quality and quantity of total RNA and cRNA, determines the efficiency of cRNA and cDNA amplification reactions and ensures quality of fragmented cRNA. The company sells cartridges that are specific to the type of analysis to be performed. All data is then received in digital form for appropriate transmission and storage.
About City of Hope National Medical Center
Founded in 1913 and located northeast of Los Angeles in Duarte, Calif., City of Hope is an innovative biomedical research, treatment, and educational institution dedicated to the prevention and cure of cancer and other life-threatening diseases. City of Hope is guided by a compassionate patient-centered philosophy and is supported by a national foundation of humanitarian philanthropy. Through a combination of patient-centered care, state-of-the-art treatment and groundbreaking research, City of Hope is a world-renowned leader in the fight against cancer, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, and other devastating diseases.
About eGene Inc.
eGene Inc. (www.egeneinc.com) focuses its core technologies of capillary electrophoresis, microfluidics, liquid handling and automation to develop and manufacture low-cost microfluidic, miniaturized digital genetic analyzer systems, software and consumables for biological materials testing applications. These products detect, quantify, identify and characterize DNA and RNA at high rates of specificity and sensitivity while automating routine and non-routine laboratory and industrial procedures critical to product safety, development quality and productivity.
