Agilent Technologies acquires Computational Biology Corp., pioneer in gene regulation analysis
Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) today announced its acquisition of Computational Biology Corp., a biotech pioneer in ChIP-on-chip, a microarray-based technique for understanding gene regulation in disease. The acquisition gives Agilent exclusive access to the critical patent and intellectual property for ChIP-on-chip analysis that will enable the company to provide unique microarray solutions for disease research, drug discovery and drug development.
Computational Biology Corp., based in Cambridge, Mass., was founded by Drs. Richard Young and David Gifford of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and biotechnology executive Dr. Heidi Wyle. Young is a professor at the prestigious Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, a leader in the study of gene regulatory networks, and the primary inventor of ChIP-on-chip. Gifford, a professor in MIT’s Electrical Engineering and Computer Science department, is an expert in computational biology and in the development of software algorithms for biological analysis. Both will remain professors at MIT while consulting with Agilent to support the ongoing development of commercial solutions for ChIP-on-chip.
Within six months of the acquisition, Agilent plans to open a center in Cambridge to enable close collaboration with Young and Gifford, Whitehead and MIT, as well as other collaborators and customers in the region. It will include an Agilent demonstration center for genomics, proteomics and informatics.
ChIP-on-chip uses chromatin immuno-precipitation (ChIP) to discover how regulatory proteins interact with the genome of living cells. Regulatory proteins bind to genomic DNA to control chromosome replication and gene activity, thereby functioning as switches in the regulatory circuitry of cells. This circuitry is largely uncharted, and its discovery will help researchers develop new drugs targeting the proteins and pathways that play a role in disease.
“For the past decade, microarray technology has been used to measure genes whose activity is up- or down-regulated in disease,” said Young. “With this new technology, scientists will be able to go a step further to discover how regulatory proteins control gene activity. This is a pivotal step for biological research and our understanding of genetics. Only Agilent’s microarray platform provided the specificity and sensitivity to turn our analytical method into a powerful research tool for the entire scientific community.”
“This acquisition is strategically important to the expansion of Agilent’s microarray platform into new array-based genomics applications,” said Fran DiNuzzo, vice president and general manager of Agilent’s Integrated Biology Solutions business. “In addition to developing commercial products for ChIP-on-chip, we are committed to educating the scientific community about the uses of this technology in enabling target discovery and validation, disease research, pathway analysis, toxicogenomics and mechanism of action studies.”
Informatics will be critical for integrating ChIP-on-chip data with other microarray-based research results. Agilent’s recent acquisition of Silicon Genetics will facilitate the rapid development, in collaboration with Gifford, of new software for ChIP-on-chip and complex genomic analyses.
As part of the acquisition, Agilent has acquired exclusive access to U.S. patent 6,410,243, Chromosome-Wide Analysis of Protein-DNA Interactions. This patent is the property of the Whitehead Institute and licensed exclusively to Computational Biology Corp.
Agilent in Life Sciences
Agilent’s Life Sciences and Chemical Analysis (LSCA) business is a world-leading provider of instruments, supplies, software and services to the life science and chemical analysis markets. In 2004, these markets accounted for approximately 40 percent and 60 percent respectively of LSCA’s $1.3 billion in revenue. Agilent’s LSCA business is a global organization with 3,700 employees, five international manufacturing sites, and worldwide sales and support services to more than 21,000 customer organizations in more than 70 countries. It is a leading provider of microarray, microfluidic, informatics, liquid chromatography, gas chromatography and mass spectrometry-based solutions to pharmaceutical, biotech, academic, government and chemical organizations.
About Agilent Technologies
Agilent Technologies Inc. (NYSE: A) is a global technology leader in communications, electronics, life sciences and chemical analysis. The company’s 28,000 employees serve customers in more than 110 countries. Agilent had net revenue of $7.2 billion in fiscal year 2004. Information about Agilent is available on the Web at www.agilent.com .
