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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DATANAUT INC. AND THE INSTITUTE FOR GENOMIC RESEARCH (TIGR) ANNOUNCE
PLANS TO DEVELOP NEXT GENERATION SOFTWARE PLATFORM FOR GENE EXPRESSION RESEARCH
Washington, DC - October 15, 2001 - Researchers at The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR) and DataNaut Inc. today announced
an agreement to develop an extensible set of gene expression analysis tools, beginning with TIGR's
Multi-Experiment Viewer (MEV).
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The goal of this new software platform is to provide a scalable extensible
software infrastructure allowing researchers to analyze tens of thousands of genes and hundreds of experiments
simultaneously. TIGR and DataNaut intend to make this software platform available to non-commercial and
commercial enterprises.
John Quackenbush, Ph.D., principal researcher for the project, led the team at TIGR that developed the
initial version of the Multi-Experiment Viewer and continues to provide the vision and direction for the next
generation platform. Features of this new platform include: the ability to increase the number of genes and
the number of experiments analyzed by several orders of magnitude, an extensible framework for development of
new clustering and classification algorithms, a scalable architecture for distributing data and algorithmic
processing across a cluster of servers and a common platform for development of new bioinformatic tools.
Mark Snuffin, President and lead architect for DataNaut, says that the use of new standards and techniques
for managing and distributing data and processing facilitate the development of this next generation system.
"The availability of XML tools and the emergence of Biology focused XML dialects coupled with open source
parallel computing environments enable DataNaut and TIGR to create a high-performance, extensible platform
for handling large datasets and developing new clustering and classification methods".
The goal of this new system is to facilitate research into new diagnostics and discovery. "Having a platform
that allows rapid development of new methods and algorithms to analyze gene expression patterns for entire
genomes over large numbers of experiments should provide valuable insight into systemic cellular functions
and lead to new opportunities for diagnostics and treatments" says Dr. Quackenbush. "Our goal is to work
together with DataNaut to develop the next generation platform for our own Gene Expression analysis and to make
these tools available to the community as a whole."
The team will be lead by TIGR's Alex Saeed, a member of the original MEV team, with all software development
performed by DataNaut. The first release will be available in second quarter, 2002
ABOUT DATANAUT INC.
DataNaut Inc. is a provider of High Quality Cost Effective Informatics and IT Solutions. DataNaut's unique
"Hybrid Onshore/Offshore Development" provides the quality
and convenience of working with a U.S. company and the cost savings of working with an offshore company. The
company is comprised of a team of multi-disciplined experts consisting of Computer Scientists, Network Specialists,
Biochemists, and Mathematicians to ensure DataNaut delivers the appropriate expertise required to address our
client´s technology needs. DataNaut has a solid seven-year track record of delivering high quality solutions
for its clients. DataNaut designs, builds, deploys, and maintains software for large and complex systems focused
Gene Expression analysis, Large Databases and Data mining, Statistical algorithms, Visualization, and Large Scale
Parallel Processing.
ABOUT TIGR
The Institute for Genomic Research (TIGR), based in Rockville, MD., is a not-for-profit research institute
founded in 1992 with interests in structural, functional and comparative analysis of genomes and gene products
from a wide variety of organisms including viruses, eubacteria (both pathogens and non-pathogens), archaea (the
so-called third domain of life), and eukaryotes (plants, animals, fungi and protists such as the malarial
parasite). The first two complete genome sequences of free-living organisms (the bacteria Haemophilus influenzae
and Mycoplasma genitalium) were determined at TIGR in 1995, as was the first complete genome sequence of an
archaea (Methanococcus jannaschii) in 1996. TIGR also was the first to complete the sequence of a chromosome from
the malarial parasite, Plasmodium falciparum, and from the model plant species, Arabidopsis thaliana. Additional
information about TIGR is available at www.tigr.org.
Contact Information
DataNaut, LLC
4400 MacArthur Blvd
Suite 102a
Washington, DC 20007
202.333.0505 voice and 202.318.5992 fax
http://www.datanaut.com
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