Platform Enables Researchers to Profile All Known miRNAs from Humans Plus Additional Human Predicted miRNAs and Most Studied Genomes

CARLSBAD, Calif.–Invitrogen Corporation (Nasdaq:IVGN), a leading life sciences company with a broad portfolio of technologies to improve and accelerate biomedical research, drug discovery and commercial bioproduction, today introduced its NCode(TM) microRNA (miRNA) Microarray platform.

The NCode(TM) miRNA profiling platform enables sensitive profiling of miRNAs while using extremely simple methods that provide both experienced and novice microarray users a rapid path to new discoveries. NCode(TM) permits researchers to study miRNA function by allowing researchers to profile the miRNA expression patterns in a given disease or developmental state.

miRNAs are a class of recently discovered RNAs that do not serve as templates for protein synthesis. They play a significant role in gene regulation and research has suggested that miRNAs regulate up to 30 percent of human genes, including those linked with cancer, infectious disease, and development.

Because of their different physical traits, miRNAs require modified sample preparation and profiling methods from previous DNA microarray experiments. The NCode(TM) Multi-Species miRNA Array Platform enables researchers to profile all known miRNAs from humans, plus additional human predicted miRNAs, mouse, rat, Drosophila, c.elegans, and zebrafish — making it the broadest miRNA research tool available.

“miRNAs appear to play diverse roles in critical processes like oncogenesis, stem cell differentiation, and host-pathogen interactions,” said Peter Welch, Ph.D., R&D Director for Gene Regulation at Invitrogen. “The promise of discovering superior predictors of disease and developing treatments for currently non-druggable targets has certainly captured the interest of academia and the pharmaceutical industry. We hope to accelerate research findings in these areas by providing an integrated solution that delivers the sensitivity, specificity, and coverage that the research community needs.”

Work with miRNAs has already begun to play a critical role in moving neural stem cell research forward toward therapies.

“We’ve found distinct patterns of miRNA expression in differentiating neural stem cells, consistent with a regulatory role for miRNAs in both neurogenesis and gliogenesis,” explained Ron Hart, Ph.D., Professor of Cell Biology and Neuroscience at the W.M. Keck Center for Collaborative Neuroscience at Rutgers University. “Having the ability to use sensitive microarrays to survey full sets of miRNAs in neural stem cells during differentiation both in culture and in vivo allowed us to detect novel patterns of regulated miRNAs systematically.”

“Several individual miRNAs have already proven requisite for differentiation of specific cell types,” Dr. Hart added. “Understanding these unexpected regulatory mechanisms provides novel targets for potentially managing or controlling differentiation in stem cells prior to therapeutic transplant.”

The NCode(TM) miRNA Microarray Platform will be available in December 2005.

Society for Neuroscience

Representatives from Invitrogen will be available to comment on the NCode(TM) platform at the Society for Neuroscience Annual meeting in Washington, D.C. on Monday, Nov. 14 and Tuesday, Nov. 15. Visit Invitrogen at booth #2612 in the Washington Convention Center or contact Greg Geissman 760-476-7032, [email protected] to schedule an interview.

Additionally, the Hart laboratory will be presenting during the Second Annual Hot Topics in Stem Cell Biology Satellite Symposium on Monday, November 14, beginning at 6:30 pm at the Grand Hyatt Washington, Independence A Meeting Room.

About Invitrogen

Invitrogen Corporation (Nasdaq:IVGN) provides products and services that support academic and government research institutions and pharmaceutical and biotech companies worldwide in their efforts to improve the human condition. The company provides essential life science technologies for disease research, drug discovery, and commercial bioproduction. Invitrogen’s own research and development efforts are focused on breakthrough innovation in all major areas of biological discovery including functional genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics and cell biology — placing Invitrogen’s products in nearly every major laboratory in the world. Founded in 1987, Invitrogen is headquartered in Carlsbad, California, and conducts business in more than 70 countries around the world. The company globally employs approximately 4,500 scientists and other professionals and had revenues of more than $1 billion in 2004. For more information, visit www.invitrogen.com.