Ribonomics Announces Breakthrough in Systems Biology Approach to Disease Pathway Discovery

Company Discovers New Opportunities to Produce Insulin-Stimulating Drugs

July 15 , 2003

Durham, NC - - July 15, 2003 - - Ribonomics Inc. today announced a breakthrough in Pathway Identification by using their proprietary, empirical method for identifying co-regulated genes in Diabetes.

A technology leader in the new field of Systems Biology, Ribonomics uses in-vitro and in-vivo techniques to isolate functional clusters of genes. The Company’s proprietary technology identifies unique subpopulations of messages to empirically map disease pathways. “We provide the bridge between bioinformatics and wet lab validation,” said Christopher Kelly, President and CEO. He continued, “Instead of using informatics tools alone to find the relationship between genes and disease, Ribonomics finds functional mRNA clusters that can map disease pathways. This allows the scientist to get wet-lab validation of pathways which we are convinced holds great value in life science.”

The summary gene list that the Ribonomics scientists assembled includes 14 kinases, 11 transporters, 8 phosphatases, 4 peptidases/proteases, 33 receptors, 3 transcription factors and 8 transferases that are associated with glucose stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS). Most importantly, 18 channels were identified, 14 of which had never been identified with a prior role in GSIS. “The Ribonomics Diabetes Cluster contains both known and unknown components of the Glucose Response Pathway,” said William C. Phelps, Ph.D. Ribonomics’ Vice President of Research and Development. “This illustrates the value of Ribonomics as a Systems Biology tool,” he added.

Ribonomics, Inc. (www.ribonomics.com), a privately held biotechnology company in Durham, NC, is applying proprietary Systems Biology technologies to the drug discovery process. Ribonomics maps gene networks and cellular pathways empirically by discovering and characterizing functional clusters of genes. By directly connecting genes to disease, the Company and its partners are using its proprietary technology to address critical challenges in drug discovery, including identifying novel drug targets and biomarkers, and characterizing off-target activities of candidate and established drugs to understand the basis for their efficacy and toxicity.

Contact:

Christopher B. Kelly
Ribonomics, Inc.
Two Park Center
3908 Patriot Drive
Durham, NC 27703

(919) 544-1023
chris.kelly@ribonomics.com