Woburn, MA and New York, NY (November 9, 2004) – U.S. Genomics is pleased to announce the first placement of its TrilogyTM Single Molecule Analyzer, with the Life Sciences Technology Laboratory at New York's Mount Sinai School of Medicine. Currently, U.S. Genomics has more than 30 scientific collaborations with diagnostic, pharmaceutical, and biotech companies and with leading academic institutions, including this first on-site placement of the instrument with Mount Sinai.

“Mount Sinai is an international leader for cutting-edge life science and biomedical research,” said Stephen P. DeFalco, Chairman and CEO of U.S. Genomics. “We are delighted to work with the prominent researchers of Mount Sinai and look forward to advancing scientific discovery through the use of single molecule biology on the Trilogy platform.”

The first TrilogyTM platform installation is a significant milestone in U.S. Genomics’ progress. The platform includes an instrument and associated reagents to support a variety of direct, single molecule assays in a 96-well format. The platform, combining advances in microfluidics, optical engineering, and novel labeling strategies, has applications for life science research, drug discovery and development, and diagnostics. By directly detecting and quantifying individual molecules of nucleic acids, including microRNA, siRNA, and proteins, the TrilogyTM platform allows researchers to screen their samples rapidly as well as perform validation and characterization of specific molecules of interest.
“The TrilogyTM platform is a novel technology that will provide us with new avenues for our future work in quantitative and single molecule biology,” said Erwin Böttinger, M.D., Vice-Chair for Research in the Samuel Bronfman Department of Medicine at Mount Sinai. “We are excited to work with U.S. Genomics. Our investigators now have a unique opportunity to conduct biomedical and translational research at the single-molecule level with different types of molecules, including DNA, RNA, and proteins. These efforts will enable direct, quantitative comparisons. I believe that the TrilogyTM technology will aid groundbreaking research at Mount Sinai to develop quantitative molecular diagnostics tools and discovery of new therapeutics.”

U.S. Genomics’ Technology Platform
U.S. Genomics is the pioneer of Single Molecule Biology instruments and assays. Single molecule biology is critical to breakthrough therapies and more accurate diagnostics for the healthcare industry, where such advances depend on understanding how cellular material functions and interacts at the molecular level. Understanding how biological pathways manifest themselves differently in normal and diseased states hinges on a researcher’s ability to detect and accurately quantitate these small molecular variances.

Most traditional detection techniques rely on amplification of a target molecule, an approach that increases assay cost and complexity and can undermine the researcher’s ability to quantitate accurately. The TrilogyTM technology’s direct detection approach is especially valuable to researchers for molecules that are difficult or impossible to amplify, such as microRNAs, siRNAs, and proteins. The TrilogyTM platform combines advances in microfluidics, optical engineering, and novel labeling strategies for life science applications in research, drug discovery and development, and diagnostics.

Mount Sinai’s Life Sciences Technology Laboratory
The Life Sciences Technology Laboratory is one of three new innovation laboratories at the Personalized Medicine Research Center of Mount Sinai’s Samuel Bronfman Department of Medicine, the other two being the Biocomputation Laboratory and the Research Information Technology Laboratory. These innovation labs were founded with the intent of enabling and fostering breakthrough research to redefine complex diseases on a genomic and molecular level. This allows diagnostics and therapeutics to be targeted or “personalized” to specific patient populations, offering the right treatment to the right patient. The Personalized Medicine Research Center’s laboratories aim to develop and provide the essential core technologies that will enable genome-wide analysis of genetic variation and function in human DNA, and quantitative biology at the single-molecule level for large-scale studies of genetic associations and predictive biomarkers.

ABOUT U.S. GENOMICS U.S. Genomics is a leading marketer and developer of technologies that allow genetics, functional genomics, and diagnostics to be performed at the single molecule level. The company’s technology platform can directly analyze individual molecules of DNA, RNA, and proteins without the need for amplification and combines advances in microfluidics, optical engineering, and novel labeling strategies. The technology has life sciences applications in the areas of research, biodefense, drug discovery and development, and diagnostics. For more information, please visit www.usgenomics.com.


ABOUT MOUNT SINAI MEDICAL CENTER Located in Manhattan, Mount Sinai School of Medicine is internationally recognized for ground-breaking clinical and basic-science research, and innovative approaches to medical education. Through the Mount Sinai Graduate School of Biological Sciences, Mount Sinai trains biomedical researchers with an emphasis on the rapid translation of discoveries of basic research into new techniques for fighting disease. One indication of Mount Sinai’s leadership in scientific investigation is its receipt during fiscal year 2003 of $155.9 million, an increase nearly ten percent from the previous year. Mount Sinai now ranks 24th among the nation’s 125 medical schools in receipt of research support from NIH and 20th in the total amount of federal research funding. Mount Sinai School of Medicine also is known for unique educational programs such as the Humanities in Medicine program, which creates opportunities for liberal arts students to pursue medical school, and instructional innovations like The Morchand Center, the nation's largest program teaching students and physicians with "standardized patients" to become not only highly skilled, but compassionate caregivers. Long dedicated to improving its community, the School extends its boundaries to work with the East Harlem community to pair physician/scientists and medical students with at risk high school students interested in careers in math and science.