InforMax and AxCell Biosciences to provide data on protein interactions



The two companies have developed a Protein-Protein Interaction (PPI) module for the GenoMax enterprise bioinformatics system, a modular platform of advanced analysis programs for genomic and proteomic applications, and have successfully integrated the Inter-Functional Proteomic (IFP) Database.

AxCell has developed technology designed to provide qualitative and quantitative information about a range of protein-protein interactions. This information is being used to update the data available through the IFP.

"At the heart of many diseases are disruptions or alterations in protein-protein interaction networks," said Alex Titomirov, CEO and Chairman of InforMax. "In order to better identify the complex interacting pathways involved in most cellular processes, scientists need to visualize these protein-protein interactions and correlate them with available sequence, expression and functional information. The integration of our software with the AxCell database will allow subscribers to use this valuable information to obtain more complete answers to biologically relevant questions."

In January 2001, AxCell announced that its scientists had completed the map of interactions in the WW Protein Domain, one of the body's 60-80 protein domains.

The GenoMax Protein-Protein Interaction module features visual and analytical tools for the access and enhancement of the IFP data, including a graphical affinity matrix viewer designed to clearly identify the matrix of protein interactions; a protein network viewer to identify specific protein interaction pathways; the ability to filter, sort and cluster data to target specific relationships; the ability to save selected protein networks into the Oracle database for analysis and to view sequence information for any molecules in a pathway; and the complete integration with all GenoMax modules.

"We are excited that AxCell's findings in mapping protein interactions, including the data from the WW Domain, will be available through GenoMax," said Brian Bullard, Vice President and CIO of AxCell. "This collaboration will bring the exciting research information in the IFP database to leaders in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry as we move closer to our goal of completing the map of all human protein interactions."