Micralyne and Signature BioScience Announce Research and Development Agreement
Edmonton, Alberta and Hayward, California, September 26, 2001 - Micralyne, a leader in the emerging field of microfluidics or "lab-on-a-chip", and Signature BioScience, a private biotechnology company employing its WaveScreen(tm) platform for the discovery and development of drug candidates for itself and its partners, announced today that they have recently entered into a collaboration agreement.
The companies are working together to develop miniaturized platforms for lead discovery that integrate Signature's proprietary screening technology, Multipole Coupling Spectroscopy (MCS), with associated technology for the detection and measurement of cellular and molecular interactions. Unlike many other current screening technologies, MCS works in real time, does not employ tags or markers such as fluorescent dyes or radiolabels, and may be performed in virtually any environment from simple aqueous solutions to whole cells, giving a direct biological readout of protein and cellular functions and interactions.
Micralyne will provide microfluidic and micromachining technology and development services as part of Signature's ongoing development of miniaturized platforms for certain drug discovery applications. An embodiment of MCS for drug discovery requires performance at high-throughputs. This can be more readily achieved by miniaturization of the MCS detection platform, which also has the added benefit of reduced reagent consumption. Micralyne's microfluidics expertise will greatly accelerate Signature's miniaturization efforts.
Chris Lumb, President and CEO of Micralyne, said "We believe that Signature BioScience is on a path that will have a major impact in the area of drug discovery, and we look forward to working with them toward that effort."
"As the company's track record demonstrates, Micralyne is the clear leader in microfluidics and micromachining," said Mark McDade, CEO of Signature. "The combination of our MCS technology with Micralyne's capabilities will create an exciting new drug discovery tool for biotech and pharmaceutical companies."
About Signature Bioscience
Signature's unique parallel target and compound selection platform - WaveScreen(tm) - is accelerating the drug discovery process by delivering only the highest quality leads. WaveScreen is based on the strength of the company's proprietary screening technology, MCS, as well as lead compound generation capabilities acquired through the July 2001 purchase of Cambridge Discovery Chemistry, Inc. The company intends to globally commercialize its WaveSpec(tm) instrumentation in collaboration with its partner MDS Sciex, while internally using WaveScreen to drive lead compound discovery for pharmaceutical and biotech partnership opportunities. Formed in late 1998, Signature employs more than 100 engineers, software programmers, biologists, chemists and pport staff in its lab and office facilities in the San Francisco Bay area.
About Micralyne
Micralyne develops and manufactures microfabricated and MEMS (Micro-Electro-Mechanical-Systems)-based products. Micralyne is one of the largest independent companies in the world that manufactures MEMS in high volumes. MEMS technology is built on the premise of making industrial components smaller, faster and less expensive and facilitates radical improvements in the miniaturization of electronic and mechanical devices. These types of devices are used in many industries including communications, automotive, aerospace, and life sciences. More specifically, Micralyne’s micron-scale solutions (i.e. 1000 microns = 1 millimetre) are found in automotive emission sensors, optical switching technology in telecommunication networks, lab-on-a-chip devices for drug discovery, and commercial press equipment for printing today’s most popular magazines. Micralyne is a profitable and growing company headquartered in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
For further information contact:
Mr. Chris Lumb
President & CEO
Micralyne Inc.
1911 - 94 Street
Edmonton, Alberta
Canada T6N 1E6
Phone: 780-431-4400
clumb@micralyne.com
