Ribonomics Receives a $420,000 Grant from the Department of Defense to Develop its Systems Biology Technology

Breast Cancer Work Validates Breadth of Company's Technology

April 14, 2003

Durham, NC - - Ribonomics, Inc. has been awarded a $420,000 grant by the US Department of Defense. The grant, funded through the Breast Cancer Research Program of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command, was awarded in recognition of the scientific merit and high commercial potential of Ribonomics’ functional clustering technology.

Ribonomics empirically maps gene networks, cellular pathways and biological processes. The Ribonomics Analysis System (RAStm) for the first time allows the isolation and characterization of functionally related genes in vitro and in vivo. The Company’s technology exploits the cell’s own organizational scheme for protein expression to reveal novel functional relationships between genes, elucidate new regulatory links among pathways, and assign cellular function to uncharacterized genes. In contrast, current systems biology methods are bioinformatically driven, predicting pathway participants based on mining of existing data. “We discover genes that are biologically connected, as opposed to bioinformatically connected,” stated Chris Kelly, President of the Company.

Ribonomics will use this funding to research posttranscriptional variations in breast cancer tissue to rapidly identify and develop new targets and biomarkers for therapy. In awarding the grant, the Department of Defense noted the importance of focusing on posttranscriptional control as a key to understanding the disease state.

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