Press Release


FDA HARVESTS DATA USING IO INFORMATICS’ SENTIENT SOFTWARE, HELPING REDUCE NEED FOR DIRECT ANIMAL TESTING


BERKELEY, CA - January 21, 2010
IO Informatics, Inc. announces an agreement to license its Sentient Suite of Life Science & Healthcare software to the FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine.

“We are pleased to have the Sentient system deployed at the FDA,” stated Robert Stanley, President and CEO of IO Informatics. “Sentient is a powerful data integration and knowledge building suite that will make it possible for the FDA to conduct reliable toxicity assessment in less time and for lower cost, specifically by enabling them to move more effectively from animal studies to cell cultures – reducing the number of live animals required to produce meaningful knowledge. Among the advantages they have identified are the ease of implementing Sentient to pull in data from a variety of sources and formats, as well as its accessibility and ease of use for researchers and managers. These capabilities will allow them to quickly get a better handle on projects and make it easier to achieve success in research.”

At the FDA, Sentient will allow researchers to acquire, digest and access data from genomics (RNA, µRNA), and proteomics (serum proteome: abundance & activity) in multiple tissues (blood, liver, kidney). In addition, through the use of the Sentient framework, scientists will be able to conduct tissue analytics from biopsies (liver, kidney) more efficiently and accurately and will be provided with animal genotyping for response correlation.

Dr. Erich Gombocz, Chief Science Officer at IO Informatics, stated, “We are very happy to be able to deploy our leading data integration tools in such an important area of research, with major positive consequences. By utilizing Sentient, the researchers at FDA Vet will be able to minimize animal involvement in toxicity assessment, by translating data and knowledge initially from large animals like dogs to small ones like mice, and ultimately from mice to tissue cultures. Accessing their study data in biological context and applying this knowledge will allow FDA researchers to make optimal use of all their data, to effectively and confidently make this transition and lead the international trend towards reduced live animal testing.”

Via the Sentient suite of software, researchers will share and access experimental data from microarrays (genomics), 2DE gels (proteomics), mass spectrometry, microscopy (tissue images), pK assays (blood chemistry) and combined genetic/phenotypic/visual animal classification. The Sentient environment is used to identify and qualify multi-modal, cross-species-specific toxicity biomarkers. This provides an intimate understanding of biological systems and ‘connects the dots’ for toxicity responses common to animal and tissue cultures, despite the involvement of many incomparable pathways. As a result, the Veterinary Center researchers will be able to confidently determine toxicity with easier to handle cell cultures, at a much faster turnover (as the reproductive cycle is extremely short; long-term effects can be studied effectively). Using these methods, many different experimental layouts can be pursued in parallel and at significantly lower operating costs, due to the decrease in the live animal facilities needed.

ABOUT IO INFORMATICS
IO is at the forefront of the semantic technology wave. The Company provides software and services for uniquely efficient data integration and transformative knowledge applications in life sciences, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and medical environments.

For more information visit: www.io-informatics.com

CONTACT
Kashef Qaadri
Director of Sales
IO Informatics
510-705-8470

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