IO INFORMATICS CHOSEN TO PROVIDE MULTI-YEAR SITE-WIDE LICENSE TO JAMES HOGG iCAPTURE CENTER
BERKELEY, CA - VANCOUVER, BC January 18, 2008. IO Informatics Inc. (www.io-informatics.com), a leader in the global revolution to deliver software for life science data integration, is pleased to announce the installation of a multi-year site-wide license of the Sentient Suite at the James Hogg iCAPTURE Center; a member of the Providence Heart + Lung Institute at St. Paul’s Hospital in Vancouver, Canada. The Sentient license will provide iCAPTURE researchers throughout the Center with a unified data environment where they can share, integrate, access and analyze data from various internal and external sources.
“We are very happy to have iCAPTURE join our family of customers and collaborators. iCAPTURE is one of the world’s leading heart and lung research enterprises. Investigators in the Center are engaged in numerous large-scale discovery and validation studies of biomarkers that predict, diagnose and provide prognostic information for transplant patients. They are also among leaders in linking genotype to phenotype in common heart and lung disorders like COPD, asthma, aortic valve stenosis, and SIRS. In addition to the license, we will also benefit from interacting with iCAPTURE’s team of world class researchers,” stated Bob Stanley, CEO/President of IO Informatics.
Bruce McManus, Director of iCAPTURE said, “We are very impressed by the Sentient environment. Due to the level of data complexity and volume at iCAPTURE, it was essential for us to identify a software environment whereby we can truly integrate all our data, pull it together in one place and make it accessible to a wide variety of researchers. Sentient will allow us to fully understand all aspects of the processes, pathways and networks essential to dissecting the determinants of health and disease states.“
“In addition,” McManus went onto say, “iCAPTURE places high priority on moving beyond just capturing and analyzing our own data. To ensure we are successful in answering tougher questions, it is essential that we delve further into relationships between diverse data and information by harnessing such tools as the Semantic Web. IOI’s recent advances in this important scientific arena, allow us to do just that. The Sentient Suite is a powerful set of tools that is enabling us to move beyond complex data and information to entirely new insights and understanding.”
IO’s Sentient Suite facilitates collaboration among multidisciplinary researchers by providing a system for data integration that allows users to manage, search, view, annotate, link and share research data without programming or computer science expertise. These capabilities solve data sharing and integration challenges such that users can focus on the insights gained from their information. IO Informatics has garnered much attention lately in regard to its work in the area of data integration for Translational Medicine/Biomarker research. In addition, the company is strongly focused on development and delivery of the tools utilizing the latest advancements in the area of Semantic Web applications. It inaugurated a Working Group in the summer of 2007, whose mandate is to identify areas where Semantic technology can be developed that will help life science researchers worldwide better understand the relationships between their data, permitting them to recognize the underlying biological functions. The working group is made up of representatives from: IOI, CLDA, Viamet, iCAPTURE, Pfizer and MD Anderson.
Background Information
About IO Informatics
IO Informatics is at the forefront of a global revolution in software methods for data integration. IO Informatics’ Sentient suite of software products enables biotechnology, pharmaceutical, medical and other life science researchers to structure and define complex data relationships, view these relationships, query them, and capitalize on them — all within a secure, compliant, auditable framework that helps organizations accumulate and leverage knowledge. Founded in 2003, IO Informatics has recently moved to new offices in Berkeley, California (www.io-informatics.com).
About the James Hogg iCAPTURE Centre for Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Research
The iCAPTURE Centre (www.icapture.ubc.ca), a member of the Providence Heart + Lung Institute at St. Paul’s Hospital, has nearly 270 personnel, including 31 nationally funded principal investigators and numerous trainees and staff members working to solve the unknowns of heart, lung, and blood vessel diseases. The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), the BC Knowledge Development Fund and their partners have awarded over $21 million to the iCAPTURE Centre at St. Paul’s Hospital for infrastructure that will help propel the team to a new level of discovery. The purpose of the iCAPTURE Centre is to link recent breakthroughs in genetic sciences to abnormal gene expression and to changes in the structure and function (phenotype) of cells, tissues, and organs related to the development of heart, lung, and blood vessel diseases. The role of immunity, inflammation and virus infections in the initiation and progression of disease is a central current of emphasis for the Centre.
About the Providence Heart and Lung Institute at St. Paul's Hospital
Launched in June 2007, the Providence Heart and Lung Institute at St. Paul's Hospital merges and integrates all of Providence's heart and lung research, education and care programs under one umbrella. Its mandate is to transform cardiovascular and pulmonary research and care—transferring new care solutions from the laboratory to the clinics and communities to improve the lives of British Columbians.
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