PROCESSORS

Entelos, Inc., the leader in biological modeling, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), today announced that Entelos will provide MIT with a biological modeling platform with which MIT will build in silico models for immunology research. The collaborative team of scientists from MIT and Entelos seek to understand how and why intracellular signaling breaks down in certain immune system cells. Such a breakdown in intracellular communication can cause immune and inflammatory diseases such as asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, type 1 diabetes, and multiple sclerosis. According to Luk Van Parijs, Ivan R. Cottrell Career Development Assistant Professor in Immunology in MIT's Center for Cancer Research, "The Entelos platform supports multi-scale biological modeling, crucial for scientists conducting systematic research that integrates different types of cue-signal- response data. Our experimental system generates a wealth of data on the existence and quantification of signal transduction to multiple stimuli that then regulate multiple cellular responses. The Entelos platform provides flexible biological pathway mapping combined with novel parameter management for quantification, enabling the development of mechanistic models of intracellular signaling on a large-scale. We expect to explore completely new questions in immunology using this integrative approach." In July 2003, Entelos and MIT announced a collaboration to study the key intracellular communication hubs of immune system cells and to quantitatively map intracellular pathways that respond to different stimuli and then regulate response by these cells. The scale of the modeling and simulation required to support this research effort has reached a level of complexity that is not well supported by commercially available modeling tools. The Entelos platform will enable MIT scientists to build the sophisticated models necessary to meet the needs of the research program. "At this scale of biological modeling, where so many scientists and engineers work together in multi-disciplinary teams, the model building platform must support a collaborative research environment," stated Alex Bangs, Chief Technology Officer of Entelos. "The Entelos technology provides a platform capable of integrating all research into a single whole-system context. The platform supports biological model building from design and development to calibration and validation and can generate simulated data and results predictive of biological systems. The Entelos approach is critical to understanding the complexities of human biology and supporting key drug discovery and development decisions." Entelos' proprietary biological modeling platform has evolved over the past seven years to a multi-user, high performance computing architecture that is used daily by more than 40 scientists at Entelos, conducting research in multiple therapeutic areas including Asthma, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Obesity, and Diabetes.