New Protein Atlas Aids Drug Discovery

The Protein Atlas of the Human Genome is designed to be a new tool for understanding the causes of diseases and for aiding drug delivery and development.

Unlike existing databases that use DNA/RNA information to predict genes and proteins, the proteins themselves are the foundation of the Protein Atlas, says the developer, Confirmant LTD (Abingdon, UK). The information in the atlas was experimentally derived by using proprietary technologies developed by Oxford GlycoSciences to identify protein sequence tags (PSTs) that can be mapped back to the human genome to define gene structure unambiguously. This approach is designed to overcome the inaccuracies associated with computational predictions by providing definitive information needed for the identification, prioritization, and validation of drug targets. The atlas currently contains information about some 7,000 genes, including the protein variants they encode.

"The Protein Atlas is a combined genomics and proteomics approach that has tremendous potential to increase our understanding of disease at a molecular level, and to deliver a substantial productivity boost to drug discovery pipelines,” said Dr. Andrew Lyall, a director of Confirmant. The company is a joint venture formed by two UK firms, Oxford GlycoSciences and Marconi.




Related Links:
Confirmant