SHIMADZU TO LAUNCH SNP ANALYSIS SERVICE

New agreement expands genomic services

Shimadzu Corporation has entered into an agreement with QIAGEN NV's wholly-owned subsidiary, QIAGEN Genomics Inc (Seattle, USA) to launch its single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis service.

Under the non-exclusive five-year agreement, Shimadzu has purchased QIAGEN's Masscode system and licensed the related high-throughput SNP genotyping technology. The agreement allows Shimadzu to establish a further analysis service, complementing the DNA and protein analysis businesses already in place.

The Masscode system comprises a platform chemistry of cleavable mass spectrometry tags. A small molecular weight tagged oligonucleotide is used as a primer in an allele-specific PCR SNP discrimination assay. The allele-specific amplicons are differentiated through their Masscode tag assignments. Following a photolysis step to cleave the tags from the amplicon, the samples are introduced into a single quadrupole mass spectrometer detection system for analysis.

The system requires only very small DNA sample volumes and is equipped to cope with 15 SNPs per well in 96-well plates. Up to 40,000 SNP genotyping measurements can be performed per day and the digital read-out eliminates spectral overlap, making it a highly precise method for genomic analysis.

Initially, Shimadzu's plans to equip a facility in Japan able to conduct around 10,000 SNP analysis per day. Shimadzu has previously invested ¥0.25 billion in its SNP genotyping business, the launch of which is scheduled for October 2001.

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For more information, please contact:

Shimadzu Biotech
Dr Tetsuo Ichikawa, Chairman
Tel: 81-75-823-1148
Fax: 81-75-823-1364
email: tichi@shimadzu.co.jp

For press information, please contact:

HCC De Facto Group plc
Richard Anderson
Tel: +44 (0)20 7496 3310
Fax: +44 (0)20 7496 3355
s.black@hccdefacto.com