febit's miRBase 14 Geniom-Biochip Now With 58 Additional New Sequences Available for Cancer Research

LEXINGTON, Mass. and HEIDELBERG, Germany, March 1 /PRNewswire/ -- febit today announced that an updated version of  the company's Geniom Biochip containing 58 new discovered sequences in addition to all of the Homo sapiens microRNAs (miRNA) from miRBase version 14 (www.mirbase.org) is now available for cancer research. The 58 new miRNA sequences were found by deep sequencing in a miRNA discovery study performed on an Applied Biosystems SOLiD 3 sequencing system. All 58 miRNAs have been validated using the ABI TaqMan miRNA qRT-PCR assay and are now available for further studies using febit's microarray technology for miRNA-profiling.

Several studies investigating the role of miRNAs showed evidence for their influence in cell development processes. Recently, promising biomarkers for the future diagnosis and differentiation of lung cancer and multiple sclerosis have been published in BMC Cancer and PLoS ONE. The results demonstrated that miRNA biomarkers reliably distinguish between affected and healthy individuals by analysing whole blood samples. Each miRNA is part of a meaningful pattern giving information about individual regulatory processes. Therefore each miRNA of the Geniom Biochip, from either miRBase 14 or the SOLiD sequencing-studies, will be of high scientific impact and can be a potential biomarker candidate or therapeutically relevant molecules.

Peer Staehler, febit's CSO, said: "After the recent publication of promising results in biomarker discovery febit now enhanced its pipeline with novel, well validated content. febit plans to  develop miRNA and other disease-related biomarkers which will help to detect diseases at early stages, diagnose the disease progression and monitor the response to treatment. In our studies we used whole blood, which is a well established sample source in the diagnostic practice."

febit's highly flexible microarray production technology keeps pace with the advances in genomic research and the speed of discovery in this exciting industry. febit's Geniom RT Analyzer platform enables febit's customers to conduct large cohort studies due to the very high degree of automation and sophisticated bioinformatics is then able to interpret data to reveal significant regulatory patterns.

About febit

febit develops, produces and markets flexible automated solutions for enabling biochip applications in Life Sciences. febit's  product portfolio includes various instruments, optimized assays and bioanalytical services, complemented by bioinformatics software and consulting.

The key applications are HybSelect, febit's innovative DNA capture method for Next-Generation-Sequencing, and hands-off, amplification free microRNA profiling. Both are taking advantage of the advanced microfluidics of the patented Geniom Biochip to offer the highest degree of automation, flexibility and efficiency available.

For more information, please visit www.febit.com.

Contact: febit group, Eva Sterzel, [email protected], +49 (0)6221 6510-300

Russo Partners, Martina Schwarzkopf, [email protected], +1 212 845-4292

SOURCE febit