Applied Biosystems Introduces New Version of SNP Selection Tool with Latest Data from HapMap Project
Applied Biosystems, an Applera Corporation business, today announced the release of a new version of its freely available SNPbrowser™ Software tool. Designed to simplify the selection of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNPs) assays for disease association studies, the latest version of SNPbrowser Software incorporates approximately one million SNPs from the first phase of the International HapMap Project.
The software, available at http://www.allsnps.com/snpbrowser , provides a comprehensive database of more than five million SNP assays compatible with Applied Biosystems genotyping platforms, as well as numerous annotations and selection criteria useful for the design of disease association studies.
“Today, researchers are focused on searching for genes and genetic variations involved in common diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes,” said Dennis A. Gilbert, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Applied Biosystems. “These diseases are characterized by multiple genes and environmental factors, making disease association studies difficult and expensive to perform. The SNPbrowser Software allows researchers to streamline the process of SNP selection by offering a way to visualize assays and by automatically prioritizing a minimum number of assays for cost-effective and successful genetic association studies.”
“Researchers interested in putting into practice the results of the HapMap project now have an easy and intuitive visualization tool for use in the design of their studies,” said Maria Lagerström-Fermer, Ph.D., Associate Director, Head of CV-GI Genetics, Molecular Pharmacology, AstraZeneca. “Further, the SNPbrowser Software provides a way to simplify the design of genetic association studies by enabling selection of an optimal set of SNPs that can be readily translated into orderable genotyping assays.”
Specific SNPbrowser enhancements include the ability to:
- Immediately identify optimal subsets of SNPs that are available as Applied Biosystems TaqMan® SNP Genotyping Assays or that can be utilized in the SNPlex™ Genotyping System;
- Easily select from the most extensive collection of putative functional coding SNPs;
- Examine both HapMap and Applied Biosystems validated SNP maps and derived patterns of genetic variation; and]
- Export annotations and genotypes for subsets of validated SNPs, from either the HapMap Project or Applied Biosystems data sets, for use in other analyses
As part of the development of its TaqMan® SNP Genotyping Assays, Applied Biosystems generated a large genotype dataset from the analysis of more than 160,000 SNPs in four population samples (African American, Caucasian, Chinese, and Japanese), the data from which is provided through SNPbrowser™ Software. An analysis of these data was published recently in the April 2005 issue of the peer-reviewed journal Genome Research. The paper represents the first multi-chromosome study analyzing patterns of statistical association among SNPs across four major human populations.
About Applera Corporation and Applied Biosystems
Applera Corporation consists of two operating groups. The Applied Biosystems Group serves the life science industry and research community by developing and marketing instrument-based systems, consumables, software, and services. 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 $1.7 billion during fiscal 2004. The Celera Genomics Group (NYSE:CRA) is engaged principally in the discovery and development of targeted therapeutics for cancer, autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Celera Genomics is leveraging its proteomic, bioinformatic, and genomic capabilities to identify and validate drug targets, and to discover and develop small molecule therapeutics. It is also seeking to advance therapeutic antibody and selected small molecule drug programs in collaboration with global technology and market leaders. Celera Diagnostics, a 50/50 joint venture between Applied Biosystems and Celera Genomics, is focused on discovery, development, and commercialization of diagnostic products. Information about Applera Corporation, including reports and other information filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission, is available at http://www.applera.com , or by telephoning 800.762.6923. Information about Applied Biosystems is available at http://www.appliedbiosystems.com/ .
Copyright© 2005. Applera Corporation. All rights reserved. Applied Biosystems is a registered trademark and Applera, Celera, Celera Diagnostics, Celera Discovery System, Celera Genomics, SNPbrowser, and SNPlex are trademarks of Applera Corporation or its subsidiaries in the U.S. and/or certain other countries.
TaqMan is a registered trademark of Roche Molecular Systems, Inc.
