SCIENCE

PRINCETON, NJ -- Compugen Ltd. (Nasdaq:CGEN) announced today that it has signed agreements with the Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University and the Weizmann Institute of Science to provide them with Gencarta(TM), Compugen's annotated genome, transcriptome and proteome database. Financial terms of the agreements were not disclosed. "We are very pleased about the prospects of using Gencarta. It will significantly enrich our capacity to harvest the human genome and to perform basic research in diverse realms of biology, biochemistry and genetics," said Professor Doron Lancet, Head of the Weizmann Institute's Crown Human Genome Center. "With its high quality of data and unique interface, Gencarta complements the set of tools we already have at our disposal." "Gencarta complements our established functional genomics program and will greatly accelerate disease-oriented gene discovery by investigators at our institution," stated Erwin P. Bottinger, M.D., Director of the Albert Einstein Biotechnology Center, Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University. Gencarta is a comprehensive annotated genome, transcriptome and proteome database accessible through flexible query tools for advanced post-genomic research. This comprehensive database is designed to assist in rapid target discovery processes and to increase the success of experiment design and implementation. Based on Compugen's LEADS platform, Gencarta provides a comprehensive view of the transcriptome, the biological bridge between genes and their coded proteins. The creation of this view requires the correct predictive modeling of underlying biological processes, in particular alternative splicing, which has been an integral part of the LEADS platform since its inception. The periodic application by Compugen of LEADS analysis and data mining tools to both genomic and expressed sequence databases, results in one comprehensive and growing data source, which currently includes tens of thousands of genes, more than 150,000 annotated predicted splice variants and their derived proteins, SNPs, alignment of ESTs to known mRNAs and annotated genomic information. LEADS gene predictions have been tested in hundreds of cases and verified with a success rate of over 90% of these cases, in Compugen's molecular biology laboratory. For additional information visit www.cgen.com